School of magic
by Merit Elementary
Summary: Stephanie Edgley is accepted into her Uncle's school. One problem, she didn't sign up. How will Stephanie cope with scarred men, crazy people and a SKELETON? And who is Valkyrie Cain? Enemies will be made. Can she and her friends get through school?
1. The name is Valkyrie Cain

**Hi guys, I'm just going to say I don't own Skulduggery Pleasant. Enjoy.**

Stephanie Edgley sat at her desk staring into space. She had just received a letter saying she was accepted at her Uncle Gordons School. She hadn't even signed up. She worked out her Uncle had decided to do it without her consent so didn't know whether to be angry, because he had just done it without asking her if she wanted to sign up, or be excited, because only the got into that school. She decided on being excited.

''Stephanie!'' Her mother, Melissa Edgley, shouted from the bottom of the stairs. ''Gordons here!'' Oh yes and she had to leave today.

She glanced around her half empty room. She would be back for Christmas, she kept telling herself. She stood up and went downstairs.

A little bundle of love came hurtling at her. ''Goodbye Stephwanie.'' Alice said holding onto Steph for dear life.

Stephanie pried Alice of herself and smiled at her 5 year old sister. ''Goodbye Awice.'' She said playing along with her.

She walked over to her parents and hugged them each in turn. ''Good luck.'' Melissa said.

''Have fun.'' Her dad, Desmond, said.

She saw her Uncle standing by the door and walked over to him. Heading towards the car she waved at her parents and sister as they sped away. All her stuff she would need at the school had already been transported over there.

"Excited?" Gordon questioned her.

Biting her lip she nodded. The truth was she was nervous. Sure she'd been to the school when she was younger and enjoyed learning magic but now going officially she didn't know what to expect.

It took them 2 hours to get to the school with all the traffic and getting through the magic security. A smile came to her face when she saw a sign that said 'Welcome to the school of magic.'

Gordon drove around the side of the school to the teacher's bay. As he was the principle he had his own parking space. He climbed out and went to my side. He opened the door and Steph nodded her thanks to him.

''If you go round to the office they will give you your time table and stuff you need including your dorm key, okay Steph?'' He said. "You remember how to get there don't you?"

"The name is Valkyrie Cain and ye I remember." She said heading towards the front of the building and went through a door that said 'office' above it. She walked up to the lady at the desk.

''Excuse me?'' Val said.

''How may I help you?'' The lady said with a sickly sweet smile that meant 'I am only here because I'm paid.' She was a thin woman that looked more like a stick than a woman and strawberry blonde hair that was in a bun.

''I'm Valkyrie Cain otherwise known as Stephanie Edgley, principles Gordons niece.'' She said tapping her fingers on her leg.

''Oh, ok wait here.'' The lady said getting up and going through a door into the back. She came back holding a plastic bag, a piece of paper and a key. ''Okay the key is for your dorm, the paper is your timetable and the bag has your p.e kit in it. That is the only piece of uniform otherwise you wear your clothes.'' The lady said passing Valkyrie the stuff.

''Thank you'' she said and left, walking back into the fresh air. She checked the number on her key. 499. Great that means lots of stairs she thought.

Following one of the pathways she started towards the building with the dorms in. Remembering her way and with the signs to help her she admired the gardens taking her time.

She knew that the school term hadn't started yet but everyone had to be in 2 weeks early. The only time they weren't working once the school year had started was the weekends and holidays. Sadly the weekends during the school terms they had to be in school but were allowed to the closest towns so she could only see her Mum, Dad and sister on the holidays.

Making her way to the large building with the word 'Dorms' in gold letters across the middle she noticed it hadn't changed.

Opening the wooden door she turned left and started her way up.

3 stairs left….. 2 stairs left…. 1 stair left… yes finally, She thought out of breath. She turned left and followed the corridor towards the door that said 499 in golden numbers.

Once she was outside the door she put the key in, sighing when it wouldn't go in straight away.

''Pass it back!'' Someone shouted from inside. Valkyrie also heard some barking.

''As if.'' Someone else said. ''It's my favourite flavour.''

She heard the click to signal that the door was open and she opened it. She walked in to see a woman with blonde, curly hair sitting on the ceiling with a bag of crisps, a girl with really light brown hair and hazel eyes jumping trying to reach the woman on the ceiling and a dog growling and jumping.

They all turned to face her.

''Hi.'' She said waving her hand a little. Next thing she knew she was down on the floor getting licked by the dog.

''Merit what are you doing?'' The woman on the ceiling said. The dog, Merit, looked at her and stuck out her doggy tongue. ''Why you little rat.'' The woman said glaring.

Then suddenly the dog was gone and where it had sat was a rat.

''How the?'' Val said but didn't get to finish her sentence because someone interrupted.

''Tanith, where's Skul and the guys? I can't find them anywhere.'' A man with a scarred head stood in the door way. ''Oh who do we have here?'' He said coming over to help her stand up.

''Valkyrie Cain'' She said shaking his hand.

''Ghastly Bespoke. I'm guessing you're their '' He said gesturing to the girls and rat in the room '' new roomie. Be careful they can get quiet crazy at some times.''

A girl was now stood in the rats place. She had brown hair with rainbow coloured eyes.

''My name is Merit Elementary. Shifter of animals and mythical creatures.'' Merit said. Val shook her hand. ''That is Harmony Wild, she can walk through anything and everything, and that is Tanith Low, Ghastly's girlfriend, and she is a wall walker and is good with the sword. Oh and Ghastly the boys are in the training hall practicing their combat skills''

''Thanks.'' Ghastly said and then left the room.

"Come with me.'' Harmony said to Val. ''I'll show you to your bedroom.''

Valkyrie followed Harmony down a hallway. ''The blue door is Tanith's, my door is red, Merits door is turquoise and your door is white until you paint it'' She said.

Harmony left Valkyrie to get settled in. In Val's room was a four poster queen bed, a desk and swivel chair, an ensuite and a walk in wardrobe. Her suitcases and bags had already been placed in her room so she decided to get her clothes put away. After that she grabbed her laptop, notebook and pencil case on her desk.

It had been 20 minutes before she was unpacked and then she went into the living room. She saw a lioness sat on the couch. She knew it was Merit. Merit slid of the couch and knocked Val with her head towards the door. Locking the door behind them, Val followed Merit where ever she was leading her.

They passed a few students in the halls who were doing their own thing and paid no attention to a lioness roaming the hall. When Merit stopped in front of some doors she knew where they were. The fighting hall. She could hear people practicing inside. Merit somehow opened another door with her paws and walked in. Val followed her in.

The hall had brown, shiny, oak floors with mats on it for people to fight. There were a few windows but all you could see was forest. There were quite a few people training and others were sat on seats watching.

Merit led Valkyrie to the end of the hall where 8 people were paired up fighting. She recognised Tanith, Harmony and Ghastly but had no clue who the others were. Merit shifted back into her human form with clothes on.

''Ok let me tell you who is in our gang. That's Saracen who is fighting Dexter. Anton, my boyfriend, who is fighting Erskine and then Ghastly, who you know, is fighting Skulduggery, who is a Skeleton.'' Merit said.

Valkyrie looked over to Ghastly and saw that he was actually fighting a skeleton.

''Hey guys.'' Harmony said going over to Valkyrie and Merit.

''Hey Harm.'' Merit said nodding at her.

Tanith suddenly jumped onto Harmony's back, wrestling her to the floor. They rolled back and forward trying to pin one another. Suddenly they both disappeared through the floor.

''ooo, they're going to get so told off.'' Merit said.

''Where did they go?'' Valkyrie asked, a confused expression on her face.

''Harmony used her power to go to the floor underneath us. She can take a few people with her at a time.'' Merit explained. ''They do it every time they're fighting and get detention or if they're lucky they get a warning.''

''Don't they notice?'' Val asked.

''No. They're too into the fight'' Merit responded.

''Oh look, it's the animal lover'' A voice sneered from behind the duo.

Merit turned around ''China.'' She said unemotionally. "Is that supposed to be offensive?"

''And who is your friend?'' China asked, completely ignoring Merit's question.

''Valkyrie Cain.'' Val said looking between Merit and China.

''How sweet, now why I came here, ah yes. It's time for that you and Harmony have been, oh so, asking for.'' China said.

''Gladly and I hope Eliza is joining us?'' Merit said.

''Of course.''

Merit got her phone out, she pressed a few buttons, and it buzzed a few times. A few seconds after Harmony and Tanith came bounding through the two big oak doors.

''Let's get this fight started!'' Harmony shouted pumping her fist into the air.

Some people had pushed four mats together, Merit and Harmony on one side while China and Eliza stood on the other. Merit and Harmony were bouncing around and giggling even thou they were about to have a fight. I decided they were crazy

Skulduggery stood in the middle of the mats explaining the rules. China and Eliza weren't bouncing around like Merit and Harmony, instead they were glaring at the bouncing duo.

''Ok'' Skulduggery said ''China and Eliza, you ready?'' They nodded '' Merit and Har-''

''Hurry up Skull head'' Harmony interrupted.

''Okay. 3…2…1...Fight!'' Skulduggery moved out the way and came and stood where me and the gang were standing.

 **Merit's P.O.V**

I noticed Harmony disappear underground next to me. We had been planning how to defeat China and Eliza for ages. Watching how they defended against certain attacks, how they sent their attacks and when. We knew their moves and our moves like writing the A B C.

I morphed into a gryphon and let out an ear splitting screech. I knew everyone except Skulduggery would cover their ears and I also knew it was loud enough Harmony would hear it underground and carry on with her plan. She did.

Harmony's hand came and grabbed Eliza's left leg as she was covering her ears. Before she could scream she was pulled under where I knew Harmony would deal with her. I morphed from a gryphon to a phoenix while everyone was uncovering their ears, except Skulduggery.

I blew fire from my beak at China. Sadly she dodged just in time and sent a crackling, energy bolt at me, curtesy of her symbols. I knew this would happen and quickly flew out the way. I sent some more fire at her, because I knew that bolt had drained her a little bit, and hit her in the arm as she was dodging.

People that were on mine and Harmony's side cheered at my hit. I didn't let me distract me though. I had a job and that was dealing with China. Harmony suddenly came up at the edge of the mat near the group. She had Eliza with her, all tied up.

I saw China gawking at it and used it as a distraction, which we knew would happen. I morphed back to my human form and kicked China so hard in the face she could probably see butterflies flying around. China landed on the floor with a 'thump'. Unconscious.

 **Harmony's P.O.V**

I heard Merit's screech and quickly moved through the ground so I was under Eliza. I pushed my hand up, grabbed Eliza's leg and pulled her down with me before she could make a sound. I moved around in the dirt and earth as though I was flying in the sky.

I quickly made it to the room I wanted to be at and dumped Eliza in it through the ceiling. It was pitch black in the room she was in so only I could see. We had been planning this for ages, me and Merit, now it is so simple even a four year old could do it, if they had our powers.

I quickly moved through the walls, floors and ceilings trying to get back to my bedroom. I made it finally and grabbed the rope I had in my draw and headed back down to the room using my power.

I entered the room through the floor and could see clearly. Eliza was walking around the room trying to feel anything she could use to help her.

I jelly legged her and she fell onto her knees. I quickly tied her up easily. I held onto her and used my power to get back to the fighting room. I came up through the ground into the fighting hall and made the distraction Merit needed.

Merit kicked China in the face pretty hard and China fell unconscious onto the floor in a slump.

 **Merit's P.O.V**

Mine and Harmony's side started cheering and clapping. It had ended quicker than I thought it would, but then again we had gone over it so many times it would of. Suddenly the doors to the training room swung open and our history teacher, Miss Surly, a grumpy old woman whose favourite colour was brown and could lose a bit of weight, came barging in.

"What is going on here?" She screeched.

Everyone who had been cheering had now gone quiet and was staring at the old lady not knowing what to say. I saw out of the corner of my eye Skulduggery motioning to Harmony to make everyone sink through the floor. Harmony grabbed my hand and one at a time we all slipped through the floor unnoticed.

 _ **Will the guys get found out after their little fight? Will someone snitch? Wait for chapter 2 and you will found out.**_

 **Hi guys, if anyone wants to be in my story can you state your name, age, gender, what you look like, personality, some likes and dislikes and if you want a relationship and who with.**

 **Please review. :)**


	2. That was fun

**Sorry I haven't posted in a while on this story. I'll try harder. This is just a short chapter to show I haven't given up.**

Valkyrie wasn't sure what to think of what she just saw. Sure she'd seen fights before having helped her uncle around the place when she came here as a child but the one she just witnessed wasn't just pinning each other to the floor. She took a deep breath and sighed.

Looking around the room they were in she noticed it was an old classroom with file cabinets in and the odd spare chair or desk around the place. There were no windows and the air was dusty making it a bit harder to breath. She noticed a chalk board on the right side wall with a door to its left and the plain painted, white, chipped walls making the classroom seem smaller than necessary, especially with everyone in the same room making it even smaller.

Looking round at everyone Val saw Merit and Harmony smiling like kids on Christmas day, most the guys were looking quite pleased with the way it had gone, except with the interruption at the end. The only person she couldn't tell what they were feeling was Skulduggery but he was a skeleton so he looked the same for every emotion he felt. Poor guy. Then again it could be useful if you were being interrogated.

"That was fun." Harmony said casually. Every one turned to look at her.

"Where are we anyway?" Tanith asked wandering around the old classroom, checking inside the cabinets. "This place looks like it hasn't been used for years."

"It's probably one of the old classrooms." Skulduggery said wiping his gloved hands across the top of a desk, dust sticking to his glove. "It is very dusty."

"No kidding Skull." Dexter commented.

"My name is Skulduggery." Skulduggery corrected him.

"Whatever you say skuttlebug." Dexter nodded.

A beep echoed throughout the old classroom. Valkyrie looked towards the sound and found she was looking at Merit's pocket.

Merit dug her hand in her pocket and pulled out a phone. Valkyrie looked at it curiously wondering who had texted Merit.

"It's my brother." Merit said quickly texting back. "I've got to go."

Merit quickly walked towards the door, opened it, walked out, walked back in and said "does anyone know how to get back up stairs?"

 **Likes and reviews are always welcome.**


	3. Billy-Ray who?

**I'm really sorry I haven't been writing lots. I won't give you all excuses so instead I will give you a small chapter. Don't forget to send me any OC's you want to be in it. I need some teachers for the school.**

 **Thank you for all the reviews I have been getting.**

 **To Snowfrost (Guest) - I have decided to use your OC but have changed her around a bit. Since I already had a idea for Sanguine's girlfriend I can't pair them up. Any one else you want her to go with? Maybe you could make up her boyfriends? Thanks for all the detail in the description. She will be in a later chapter.**

 **To Susan R (Guest) - I cannot tell you who Merit's brother is. You will just have to keep reading.**

Valkyrie lay on her bed staring up at the ceiling. After finding their way back up from the old classroom Val had went for a walk around the school and when she passed the medical room she saw China and Eliza sat on a bed getting checked over. She had smiled then carried on walking.

Val then sat outside for a while just enjoying the fresh air. She felt partly home sick but knew somehow that she would soon be back home. The term would probably flash by. She then went up to the dorm and e-mailed her parents saying she was settling in fine and had already made some friends.

Now as Val lay on her bed she wondered how she was going to decorate her room. She had already decided on using black for her door but didn't even know where to start for her room. She could maybe use the same colours that her own bedroom at her house had because she liked those.

A knock at the door shook her from thoughts.

"Come in." Val said pushing herself up into a comfortable sitting position.

The door creaked open and Harmony popped her head around.

"Me and Tanith were wondering if you wanted to come down to the canteen since its only open for another hour." Harmony questioned.

"Uh…..sure." Valkyrie answered. Standing up she walked with Harmony to the living room where Tanith was waiting for them.

Tanith nodded in greeting and then they made their way down to the canteen. Skulduggery, Ghastly and Anton already sat at a table chatting away happily. Tanith kissed Ghastly on the cheek then sat next to him. Valkyrie slid in next to Harmony who sat by Skulduggery. Anton sat the other side of Ghastly.

"Where is everyone?" Harmony asked looking around at each person.

"Dexter and Saracen are probably up in their dorm together, Erskine is probably at the reception helping and Merit is…..actually, I don't know where Merit is." Ghastly said, listing the people off on his fingers.

Valkyrie looked around the canteen. Its light grey floor blended in with the grey tables and grey chairs. The white walls had pictures of sorcerers and mages who had graduated and the windows showed grass with a forest blocking out most the sun.

Not many people had come to the canteen for lunch so Valkyrie decided they must have come earlier. Seeing a buffet going along one wall Val got up and made her way over. Finding the plates she grabbed one and looked over the assortment of food.

The food ranged from cakes to fruit and even some cooked food at the far end. Grabbing an apple she moved down the buffet and ended up adding some chips and fish onto the plate.

After pouring some water into a cup Val moved back towards the table. When she looked at the table she saw a guy with sandy blonde hair and sunglasses sitting where she had been by Harmony before. He seemed to be happily chatting away with Harmony while the others at the table glared at him.

Slipping in next to Tanith Val began to munch on the chips, picking them up one at a time and watched the interaction at the table.

A few minutes later Erskine came and sat by Valkyrie and after that Dexter came and sat by the guy with sunglasses with Saracen on his other side. Dexter seemed to lean away from the guy for some reason.

"Val." Valkyrie was pulled out of her musings when Harmony spoke to her. "Let me introduce you to Billy-Ray Sanguine."

 **Right, if anyone wants to be in my story here is what you need to tell me.**

 **Taken name**

 **Nickname**

 **Real name**

 **Gender**

 **Hair**

 **Eyes**

 **Skin**

 **Outfit**

 **Age**

 **Age**

 **Magic**

 **Personality**

 **Boyfriend or Girlfriend if you want them to have one.**

 **Height**

 **Backstory**

 **Friends**

 **Who they are neutral with**

 **Enemies**

 **I might need to change them if they don't fit. You can make how many you like. I love reading your ideas.**

 **Likes and Reviews are always welcome.**


	4. Who tried to blow up a town?

_Last time in School Of Magic_

 _A few minutes later Erskine came and sat by Valkyrie and after that Dexter came and sat by the guy with sunglasses with Saracen on his other side. Dexter seemed to lean away from the guy for some reason._

 _"Val." Valkyrie was pulled out of her musings when Harmony spoke to her. "Let me introduce you to Billy-Ray Sanguine."_

"Nice to meet you lil' darlin'." Sanguine said, his Texan accent coming forward.

Valkyrie was about to speak when a voice behind her beat her to it.

"Look whose back on probation." Val turned around to see Merit with her jacket pockets and her eyes narrowed on Sanguine. "Where are the rest of your little deranged group?"

Sanguine stood up in anger. "We are not deranged." He spat.

"Couldn't fool me. You don't try and destroy a town and not be deranged." Merit explained.

Valkyrie's eyes widened in shock. Her head felt like it was going to fly off with the way she was looking back and forward between Merit and Sanguine. The two seemed to ignore everyone else in the room and continued glaring at each other.

Harmony's arm suddenly shot up and grabbed Sanguine's ear and dragged him back down so he was sitting again. With her other arm she pointed at Merit then at the empty seat next to Anton. Merit's shoulders slumped as she walked over to Anton and sat down by him.

"What was that about?" Valkyrie whispered to Tanith.

"Merit doesn't like Sanguine and is a lot more vocal than some of us, since him and his little group of 'bad guys' tried to destroy the town she lives in. Thankfully it was a sorcerer village so they were stopped. It doesn't help he cheated on me with another girl called Chrysalis. Now he has a thing for my cousin so I-."

"Wait, Harmony's your cousin?" Valkyrie whispered.

"Yes." Tanith answered in a quiet tone. "As I was saying, Sanguine has a thing for Harmony and Merit thinks he's going to cheat on her if they ever went out."

"Oh." Valkyrie said. She had never heard of someone wanting to blow up a town.

"I don't think he will." Tanith grinned mischievously. "Not after what me and Chrysalis did to him."

Valkyrie sighed and looked back towards Merit and Sanguine who were both glaring daggers at each other.

Valkyrie sighed again. Some year this was going to be.

 **And that is the end of the first day for Valkyrie at School Of Magic. Sorry it is so short but I hoped you still enjoyed it. Next chapter will be Valkyrie's second day.**


	5. The first 2 weeks

**Please read to understand story.**

 **Valkyrie has to go to school 2 weeks early. Her first day was September 5th Monday. In this chapter you need to check the dates to see what day it is.**

 **This chapter is the 2 weeks before school.**

 **DISCLAIMER: Skulduggery Pleasant isn't mine. Merit is mine. Harmony is Harmony Wild's OC. (Go and check out her stories. Author name: Harmony Wild) and Chrysalis is Snowfrost (Guest).**

 **If you want to create a character for my story details are at the end of the chapter.**

 **Enjoy.**

 **Day 2** September 6th Tuesday

Valkyrie stared at the teacher in front of them. Guild was normally a well presented teacher. Neat tie, neat top, neat pants and shoes, and even a neat haircut to pull his neatness together.

Right now his hair was pointing in every direction possible, his face as red as a tomato and eyes narrowed on the wall.

"What is this?" He ground out pointing a shaking finger at the wall.

The wall in question was covered in spray paint.

This had started when Harmony and Sanguine had been exploring through the school and came across a classroom full of art supplies. They had rummaged through and found some spray paint at the back of the room in a wooden box. Harmony then decided it would be a good idea to bring them back to her dorm. Then Merit decided she, Harmony, Tanith and Valkyrie should 'decorate' the school walls since they were too 'plain'. And that is what they did. Only to be caught red handed by Mr Guild.

Mr Guild was the history teacher and according to some of the pupils that had been here for a few years he was the one that you needed to be careful around because if you were caught doing something he didn't like he would give you a week's detention no matter what you did.

Now Valkyrie and the girls had been caught, after doing a amazing picture of a skeleton, a.k.a Skulduggery. Maybe they could wiggle their way out of this.

"Run." Merit whispered. "Run!"

Or not.

As soon as Merit shouted run Harmony slipped through the floor while Tanith, Valkyrie and Merit ran as fast as they could down the hall.

Guild shouted out for them to stop but they didn't listen.

"Is he following us?" Tanith panted.

Merit shrugged and looked back down the corridor to see a purple faced Guild racing after them.

"Yep." Merit said. "Did you get a picture of it?"

"Nope. Did you?" Asked Tanith.

"No." Merit said looking disappointed.

"I did." Valkyrie told them, holding up her phone.

They turned right into another corridor and carried on running. Turning another right they went down a load of stairs and into an older corridor.

"Guys, doesn't this hall look familiar?" Valkyrie asked not daring to look around in case she tripped.

"Yes, it does but why would we have been down here before?" Merit questioned checking behind her to see of Guild was coming. He seemed to be out of breath but was still running towards them.

"It's where that old classroom was." Tanith exclaimed. "Come on. I think I know which way it is."

Tanith ran ahead and the two other girls followed her down another corridor. They soon came to a door that was the classrooms.

Quickly opening the door they all stumbled in while Merit slammed it shut behind them. Keeping quiet they waited till Guild went past wheezing before they began to talk.

"Well that was successful." Tanith said in a cheerful voice. "I'm sure Skull would love our artwork."

"What are you talking about?" Merit asked. "He would probably say he looks nothing like the skeleton on the wall. I can just imagine it now: Skull is walking down the corridor and suddenly he sees a skeleton in the wall. He would then expect it and nod his head in approval but when we tell him it's him he would then shake his head and say 'I don't what your speaking about, it looks nothing like me.'"

Valkyrie grinned and looked around the classroom. It still had the cabinets and the stray tables and chairs but the paint on the wall seemed to be a lot worse for some reason.

Harmony suddenly appeared up from the floor smiling. In her hand she held the box of spray paints.

"I thought this classroom could use a bit of colour." Harmony shook the box gently while she said this.

"How did you know we were here?" Valkyrie asked confused.

"It's part of my power." Harmony explained putting down the box and opening it. "What colour would fit the walls?"

"Rainbow. Splodges of different colours everywhere." Merit said spreading her arms out as she described the walls.

"Everyone grab a colour then." Tanith said as she grabbed the green and sprayed a long line on the closest wall.

 **Day 3** September 7th Wednesday

"That's them Mr Guild. They're the ones that attacked me and Eliza." China shouted out into the hallway, pointing her finger at Merit and Harmony.

"Merit do you think we should run?" Harmony asked.

"Sure." Merit quickly transformed into a cheetah and ran off while Harmony slipped through the floor before Guild or even China could stop them.

Harmony and Merit appeared in their dorm at almost the same time. Merit a few seconds behind Harmony. Both of them stared at each other for a few moments before bursting out laughing.

Just then Valkyrie, Tanith, Ghastly and Skulduggery walked in. As soon as they saw Merit and Harmony laughing they stopped walking.

"Anyone know why they're laughing?" Tanith asked, watching the laughing girls suspiciously.

Skulduggery stepped forward. He then looked between the two girls and then stepped away from them.

"I believe." Skulduggery said. "They have been snitched."

"Skulduggery." Tanith said. "Could you please explain what snitched means?"

"It means someone told the teacher something they did." Valkyrie explained. "That would make the person that told the teacher, a snitch."

"Oh, now that makes sense. So who do you think snitched them?" Asked Tanith.

"China." Ghastly said looking outside the dorm.

"How do you know that?" Asked Tanith.

Ghastly stopped looking outside and looked at Tanith. "Because she's coming this way with Guild following her."

The two girls stopped laughing and ran over to the door and looked out. It was true. China was charging down the corridor heading straight for their dorm with Guild right behind her. Harmony quickly grabbed hold of Merit and just before China came in they slipped through the floor.

China barged into the room and began looking around.

"What are you doing?" Tanith asked with her hands on her hips.

"I am searching for psycho friends." China huffed still searching. She grabbed the pillows of the couch and threw them onto the floor. "I know they're here somewhere."

"China you do realise this can be classed as vandalism. You have just barged into Tanith and Valkyrie's room and have started to rummage around. You could also count breaking and entering since you had no permission from them to be here." Skulduggery explained. "I'm sure if a rack my beautiful brain I would be able to find some more bad things you have done. For starters, lying to a member of the staff."

China stopped what she was doing and turned to Skulduggery. "I don't know what your talking about."

Skulduggery tilted his skull to the side. "Oh, I think you do. You were the one that walked up to Merit and Harmony asking for that fight."

"Is that right?" Guild stood at the door. He had been watching the exchange for a while and now that someone had made a fool of him, he couldn't wait to give the detentions. "Miss Sorrows, I think that will be a week's detention at the start of school term. You will meet me every night 7 till 9. That will sure teach you not to make a fool out of me."

China's mouth opened and closes like a fish, unsure of what to say.

As she walked out the dorm she glared at Skulduggery and vowed her revenge.

 **Day 4** September 8th Thursday

"Has anyone seen Merit?" Harmony asked as she came and sat on the couch in the room of their dorm.

"No." Tanith said flicking through the channels on the t.v.

"I think I saw sneak out this morning." Valkyrie said coming to sit down next to Harmony.

Tanith put the t.v control down onto the coffee table and turned towards Harmony and Valkyrie.

After China had got detention only Harmony had come back. No one knew where Merit had went but she then came back a few hours later and went straight to bed, even though it was just after 3 in the afternoon. Harmony had become worried for Merit because before she went to bed she went to check on Merit but she wasn't there. Now she wasn't here again.

"Maybe she went to get breakfast." Valkyrie said trying to come up with answers as where Merit could be.

"Maybe." Tanith said.

The three of them got up and put their shoes on. Tanith locked the door on the way out and they began their way down to the canteen. On the way they all kept an eye out for Merit just in case she went out for some fresh air.

They entered the canteen and found it was quite packed. A shout caught their attention and they all turned in the direction it came from. They saw all the boys sitting there but no Merit. They headed over anyway and slid into the empty seats.

"Has anyone seen Merit?" Hammy asked. "Also have you seen Billy? Just he's normal here by now."

"Sorry Harmony, I haven't seen them." Dexter mumbled through his mouthful of toast.

"Next time when you answer, swallow before." Harmony said.

"Wasn't she up in the dorm with you?" Anton asked without food in his mouth.

"No, she disappeared after we ran from Guild and she wasn't in her bed last night. Val said she saw her sneak out this morning." Harmony explained looking around the canteen to see if Merit was there.

The chatting suddenly died down in the canteen when the door opened. In walked Sanguine who had a hand on Merit's shoulder and looked to be dragging her in.

As the two came over they noticed Merit had a bruise on her cheek. Anton quickly stood up and glared a deadly glare at Sanguine.

When they reached the table Anton took Merit from Sanguine and lifted her chin so he could get a better look at the bruise.

"What did you do to her?" Dexter ground out, standing up and walking towards Sanguine, cracking his knuckles.

"You just can't wait to find an excuse to use to beat me up, can you?" Sanguine asked while glaring at Dexter.

"Dexter don't." Merit said turning towards Dexter. "He didn't do anything to me."

"Then who did?" Harmony asked.

Merit mumbled something but no one heard.

"What was that?" Harmony asked.

Merit took a deep breath and said quickly. "I can't say."

"What do you mean you can't say?" Tanith asked. "Because I sure want to know so I can beat up the person who punched my best friend."

"Get in line." Harmony said. "Now tell us."

"Tell them or I tell them." Sanguine threatened.

Merit glared at Sanguine for a few seconds before turning back to her friends. "It was my brother." She mumbled out.

"Your brother punched you?" Valkyrie asked.

"Who's your brother?" Dexter asked cracking his knuckles again.

"I'm not saying. He'll kill you before you even get a second punch on him." Merit explained.

"Merit, who is it?" Anton asked.

Merit shook her head and kept her mouth shut. Her eyes suddenly widened and she turned towards Sanguine who was looking quite smug. She glared at him hoping that would make him keep quite.

"I know." Sanguine said smirking over at Merit.

Merit's glare intensified.

"Who is it Sanguine?" Harmony asked.

"Don't you dare." Merit growled.

Sanguine smirked. "Her brother is-"

Before he had time to finish Merit went to jump on him. Anton grabbed her round the waste just in time. She began to wriggle and claw at his hands so Anton dragged her out the canteen mumbling something about taking her to Kenspeckle.

The canteen had become deadly silent during the whole ordeal. As Sanguine, Harmony and Dexter sat back down people seemed to move towards the table to see if they could hear some gossip or what happened.

"You were saying who her brother is. So who is it?" Harmony whispered.

Everyone on their table leaned in to hear what Sanguine was going to say.

"Her brother is Mevolent."

 **Day 7** September 11th Sunday

 _Dear diary_

 _After Merit had been to visit Kenspeckle she had come back to the dorm and shut herself in her room. The only one she would allow in was Anton so he had to make sure she was alright. Harmony had tried and so had Tanith and I to try and get her to join in some activities but we hadn't succeeded._

 _I didn't know who her brother was at first but then Skulduggery explained he was a prisoner here on probation. We're not sure why she never did tell anyone about him and her being related._

 _Sanguine explained that he was going to collect his stuff from his dorm he shared with Mevolent, Serpine and Scarab to move to his new dorm when he heard Merit and Mevolent arguing. He took Merit out of there after she was thrown to the floor and punched in the face by Mevolent._

 _I just wish Merit will come out her room soon so then we know she will be okay._

 _I'll write soon_

 _Valkyrie Cain._

Valkyrie closed her diary and slipped it into the top draw of her desk.

It had been a week since she got to school and it would be another week until classes started.

She had met a skeleton and her crazy roommates. Watched a fight and almost got detention from Guild. Most of these things she would never have dreamed of happening.

A knock at the door interrupted her from her musings.

"Come in."

Harmony opened the door and walked in. She seemed to be a lot more cheerful.

"Val, Merit's sat in the living room if you want to come and see her. She seems okay." Harmony gushed jumping up and down.

Valkyrie grinned and jumped up from her desk chair and followed a bouncing Harmony towards the living room.

What Harmony said was true because as they entered the room they saw Tanith sat on the couch with a black cat lay down in her lap.

Maybe wishes do come true.

 **Day 13** September 17th Saturday

 _Dear diary_

 _Merit is back to her usual self. She finally came out of her room._

 _The other day me, Tanith, Harmony and Merit went down to the old classroom. We now use it as our art room. We've spray painted all the walls and made the chairs a bit more colourful. We went through the cabinets and found a bunch of blue prints for the school. I can almost remember the whole school map but it is quite big. It also helps that I came here when I was younger. It's just a shame is stopped coming. But now I'm back and having a great time._

 _Last day tomorrow and then it's the start of classes. I don't know what classes I have since Uncle Gordon signed me up for this school. I am glad he did._

 _I'll write soon_

 _Valkyrie Cain._

Valkyrie slipped her diary back into the draw of her desk and got up. Today she would be getting her timetable and she couldn't wait to see what classes Gordon had signed her up for.

Walking out of her room she headed towards the living room. Merit was the only one sat in the room.

"Where's everyone else?" Val asked.

Merit turned to her. "They went down to breakfast. I waited for you since I got up late."

Valkyrie nodded and Merit got up. They both made their way out the door and out the dorm buildings. When they made it to the main building they followed the corridor leading to the canteen. When they turned the corner Merit suddenly stopped and pushed Val back round the corner.

"What's wrong?" Val asked a bit panicked.

"It's my brother." Merit explained peeking around the corner. She quickly pulled back. "I think he saw me. Come on."

Merit grabbed Valkyrie's hand and dragged her down the hall.

"Merit, where are you going?" A voice behind them spoke.

Merit's eyes widened. "Don't stop." She said.

Valkyrie didn't stop running. They made it outside and began heading to the dorms but suddenly Merit changed direction and Valkyrie was dragged towards the main hall.

When they made it to the doors Merit let go of Valkyrie's hand and tried the doors but they were locked. Merit grabbed Val's hand again and ran to the right of the hall.

"Why didn't we go to the dorms?" Valkyrie asked as they were running.

"I don't want Mevolent knowing where our dorm is." Merit explained.

Val nodded and they carried on running.

"Come on Merit. I thought we were family." Mevolent shouted.

Valkyrie looked around and noticed the office at the side.

"Merit, the office." Valkyrie said.

"Good idea." Merit said as they ran towards the office. Halfway there they felt something zoom past them in a bright ball. Then another and another.

When they made it to the office Merit let go of Vals hand again and they both turned and slammed the door shut and locked it.

"Do you have Skulduggery's number?" Merit asked.

"No."

"Do you have anyone's number?" Merit asked desperately.

"Yours, Tanith's and Harmony's." Val answered digging her phone out her pocket.

"I've forgot my phone. Can you call-."

"What are you doing here?" The two girls turned around to see Erskine behind the office desk.

"Thank goodness. Erskine you won't believe what-."

"Why have you locked the door?" Erskine asked coming around the desk and walking towards the door. He went to unlock it Val pushed at the air to keep the lock in place.

"Valkyrie would you be kind enough to let the lock go?" Erskine turned towards Val.

"No, you're going to let them in." Valkyrie glared towards Erskine keeping the air around the lock in place.

Merit looked at Erskine then turned to Val. "Can I borrow your phone?" Merit asked.

"Sure." As Val was handing her phone over Erskine pushed the air towards the phone knocking it out of Valkyrie's hand.

When Merit went to grab it off the floor Erskine pulled the air, along with the phone, towards him. He caught it and crunched it up.

"Great, now you owe Val a new phone." Merit said glaring towards Erskine.

"I don't owe anyone anything." Erskine said still trying to unlock the door.

Merit moved over to Valkyrie.

"How we going to get out now?" She whispered.

Valkyrie shrugged, concentrating on keeping the lock still was taking it out of her.

"Come on Merit." Mevolent teased from outside.

"We're going to need a miracle to get out of this one." Merit mumbled.

Suddenly the floor split in a foot long line and up popped Harmony with Skulduggery.

"And our miracle has just arrived." Merit said.

At that moment Valkyrie dropped her hand, she had finally lost her strength to keep the lock in place. Erskine opened the lock but before he could open the door Skulduggery waved his hand and locked the lock again.

"I just unlocked that." Erskine whinged.

Merit walked up to Erskine and kicked him between the legs. He fell forward to the floor.

"That's for trying to get us killed by my brother." Merit said then turned around and walked to Merit.

She motioned to Val to kick him as well. Valkyrie shrugged then walked over to Erskine. She kicked him in the side.

"And that's for my phone." Valkyrie said then walked over to Skulduggery, Harmony and Merit.

"Everyone grab hold of my arms." Valkyrie grabbed hold of Harmony.

When Skulduggery let go of the air they all slipped through the floor leaving Erskine in pain on the floor.

"Erskine definitely has joined the dark side." Harmony said as she sat at the table.

"There's a dark side?" Merit asked as she sat by Anton. "I think it as more a delusional, evil, demented type of side. Dark just doesn't cut it."

"How did you guys know we were in trouble?" Valkyrie asked.

"I told them." Saracen said. "It's part of my power."

"Well, that is a great power to have." Valkyrie said, grinning at Saracen.

A cough behind Valkyrie made her turn around. Gordon stood behind her looking a little sheepish.

"Hey Uncle Gordon." Valkyrie greeted smiling up to her uncle.

"Wait, he's your uncle?" Dexter asked.

Beside him Saracen just sat there smiling smugly holding his hand out to Dexter. Dexter was grumbling something about all knowing friends while he past over a £10.

Gordon smirked and handed Valkyrie a piece of paper. Then handed everyone on the table a piece of paper.

Valkyrie opened it up to find her timetable.

"Thanks Gordon." She checked over her timetable. "Did you just pick every lesson there was?"

Gordon dropped the smirk and went back to looking sheepish. "I didn't know what you wanted to do." He explained.

"It's okay. It should be fun, I think." Valkyrie said unsure of what to think.

"Anything you need before I go back to my boring office?" Gordon asked.

Valkyrie was about to shake her head no, when Merit caught her attention from the corner of her eye. Merit used her hand and pretended it was a phone. Gordon looked where Valkyrie was looking but before he could see what Merit was doing she quickly stopped.

"Anything you need Val?" Gordon asked again.

Now it was Valkyrie's turn to look sheepish. "A new phone?" She said, making it sound like a question.

"Well technically Erskine owes you a new one." Merit said.

Valkyrie glared at Merit but she just shrugged and put her hands up in a surrendering way.

"Why does Erskine owe you a new phone?" Gordon asked, now confused.

Harmony spoke up. "Because he crushed it."

"Why did he crush it?" Gordon asked getting exasperated.

"Because he's a demented dude." Tanith answered.

"And evil." Merit added.

"And delusional." Harmony finished off.

"Thanking for summing that up for me girls." Gordon thanked. "Val, I'll have to talk to your parents because I think they did have an extra one somewhere. I just can't remember where though."

"Okay." Val said.

Gordon nodded then turned around and walked out of the canteen.

"And that is my Uncle Gordon everyone." Valkyrie said.

 **Hope you liked the chapter.**

 **Reviews and follows are always welcome.**

 **Creating a character.**

 **You will need to review all this info to me:**

 **Taken name**

 **Nickname**

 **Real name**

 **Gender**

 **Hair**

 **Eyes**

 **Skin**

 **Outfit**

 **Age**

 **Magic**

 **Personality**

 **Boyfriend or Girlfriend if you want them to have one.**

 **Height**

 **Backstory**

 **Friends**

 **Who they are neutral with**

 **Enemies**

 **I might need to change them if they don't fit. You can make how many you like. I love reading your ideas.**


	6. Vampire attack

**Hope you all enjoy this chapter.**

 **To**

 **Snowfrost (Guest) = Thx. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. Glad to see your carrying on to read it. Hope you like this chapter.**

 **Person who made Madison = Madison her given name. Like Stephanie is Valkyrie's or is Madison her taken name? Thank you for the character. I will use her in future chapters.**

 **First day of classes** September 19th Monday

 _"_ _You saw the girl she was with. She's new this year."_

 _"_ _Well she should be easy to take out then."_

 _"_ _I'll take the girl."_

 _"_ _Good. The rest of you pick a friend and when they're alone we'll strike. None of them will know what hit them."_

 _"_ _Okay. What happens if they're never alone?"_

 _"_ _We lure them out."_

 _"_ _Won't they figure out what's going on like Merit did last time? They do have the Dead Men. How will we take them out?"_

 _"_ _They are only strong as a group. Split them up and they fall apart. Slowly, one by one."_

 _"_ _So who are you going after then?"_

 _"_ _I will be teaching one of our…..old friends a lesson for picking the enemies over us."_

 _"_ _How will you do that?"_

 _"_ _By taking away the thing he cares about. It will also hit Merit so it is basically killing two birds with one stone. If that's it I would not like our watchers to become suspicious. It is dinner after all. Anything else we need to talk about?"_

 _"_ _What about our other-"_

 _"_ _We will come back to that. For now, I think little Merit needs a lesson in messing with our plans."_

"How's everyone's classes been so far?" Valkyrie asked as she slid into a seat at the table between Merit and Harmony.

"Boring." Harmony huffed. "I swear History could have put me to sleep. Guild needs to learn how to spice his lesson up."

"What have you got next?" Saracen asked.

"Shouldn't you already know?" Dexter asked smirking at Saracen.

"I was making small talk if you even know what that is." Saracen explained, grinning when Dexter frowned.

"I do know what small talk is." Dexter spluttered.

"Go on then. What is it?" Saracen asked raising an eyebrow.

"I…Uh…..It is….."

"You don't know."

Sanguine spoke up. "Y'all really need to find something better to speak about."

"Like you can really talk. What have you been chatting about lately? Blowing up a swimming pool or how about the school?" Merit jested, grinning.

Valkyrie smiled. Since the day Sanguine had helped Merit out the two had been a lot friendlier towards each other and loved to see who could wind each other up the most. They would usually jibe at each other until one of them punched the other one. Then either Harmony, Anton or someone who was around would break them up and they would repeat the process over again and again.

Looking around the table Valkyrie spotted Skulduggery sat there observing the table as well. Over the last two weeks Valkyrie had become a little better at reading the skeleton's emotions like how he clenched his fist when angered or tilted his head when amused or confused, or how his jaw seemed to clench when he was annoyed.

His jaw seemed to clench a lot when he was around Fletcher Renn. Fletcher Renn was a teenager with blonde spiky hair Valkyrie sat next to in the class Gordon taught, blending in with mortals. She had spoken with him for most the class since she already knew how to blend in and Fletcher seemed to know a lot as well. Valkyrie found out that Fletcher was a teleporter and the same age as her.

He said he lived in the same town as Merit and Harmony and had helped to stop Mevolent and his crew that tried to blow the town up.

"Hey Val." Speaking of the devil.

Valkyrie turned around and grinned at Fletcher who stood behind her. Out the corner of her eye she saw Skulduggery's jaw clench and all Fletcher had done was say 'Hey'.

"Who let the porcupine in?" Sanguine asked.

Fletcher glared at Sanguine. "Insult my hair again and Antarctica will have a person to add to its population."

"And how will you get me there Porki?" Sanguine asked smirking.

Fletcher grabbed onto Sanguine who leaned into Harmony in surprise who then gripped onto Valkyrie so then she wouldn't fall out of her seat. In a second the four of them were gone.

 **In Antarctica**

The snow came down hard as four people popped out of nowhere and then one left leaving the other three alone.

 **Back in school**

"I'm gonna kill him." Merit exclaimed.

When Fletcher teleported back Merit knocked him down to the floor.

"You bring them back right now." Merit snarled bringing her fist up in a threatening manner.

"I am only giving him a lesson." Fletcher explained, raising his hands in surrender as well as to block any punches Merit might throw.

"You do realise you took Harmony and Valkyrie as well, right?" Skulduggery questioned coming around the table and picking Merit up of Fletcher. Merit struggled a bit before giving in and staying still. She didn't stop glaring at him though like Dexter, Saracen, Anton, Tanith and Ghastly were doing. She knew Skulduggery wasn't happy. He had his hand, that he wasn't holding Merit with, clenched.

"Oops."

 **In Antarctica**

"Thanks Val." Harmony said gratefully as she huddled closer to Valkyrie who had created a flame in her palm. Sanguine stood the other side of Valkyrie not going to close to the flame but enough so he didn't freeze.

"I don' believe the git." Sanguine swore. "I'll leave him in the wall next time I see him."

"Hey guys." Fletcher waved from bedside Valkyrie. Before anyone could say anything he teleported them all back to school.

 **In school**

Fletcher suddenly appeared beside the table again with Harmony, Valkyrie and Sanguine. Sanguine then punched Fletcher, then again, and again until Fletcher teleported away. No one bothered to stop Sanguine because they thought he deserved Fletcher deserved it for abusing his magic just because his hair was criticized against.

"Feel better now?" Harmony asked to Sanguine. He just nodded and sighed.

A bell rang signifying that lunch had ended and it was time for next lesson.

"What you got next Val?" Tanith questioned.

Valkyrie got out her timetable and looked at the lesson. "Detective."

"Skulls got that as well." Dexter announced. "You two can go together."

Skulduggery tilted his head in a thoughtful manner and then nodded. He turned his skull towards Valkyrie who just grinned at him.

"Guess you're stuck with me for the next hour." Valkyrie commented.

"Come on then otherwise we will be late." Skulduggery side turning around and beginning to walk towards the door of the canteen.

As the two walked out the door they didn't hear Dexter ask, "When has Skulduggery ever been bothered about being late?"

 **Lesson 4: Detective**

Skulduggery held the door open for Valkyrie who walked in and looked around the room. There were tables which had two seats at each one. A little platform at the front of the class made of wood had the teacher's desk on it and a black board.

Skulduggery and Valkyrie sat at a table in the back corner and waited for the rest of the pupils to seat themselves and the teacher to come into the room.

Once everyone had settled down into their seats the chatting died down as a shadow made its way across the floor from the back of the room towards the front. When it made it to the desk at the front an elderly woman came up from the shadows wearing all black and a cloak with black shadows around it.

"I am Morwenna Crow." The woman stated writing her name across the blackboard. Valkyrie winced when it scraped at a high pitch. "I am your detective teacher and will teach you how to solve mysteries and you will learn many other tactics. I will take no messing or you will be straight out of this class and you'll have to find a different class. Clear?" A few people around the room nodded. "Good. I will ask a question to each of you. State your name and the answer." Morwenna picked up a ruler and smacked her desk with it. A few people jumped in their seats. Raising the ruler she pointed at a girl at the front. "You."

"Me?" The woman asked.

"Yes. You" Morwenna replied. "Two girls ate dinner together. They both ordered iced tea. One girl drank them very fast and had finished five in the time it took the other to drink just one. The girl who drank one died while the other survived. However, all of the drinks that were served turned out to contain poison. How did the girl who drank the most survive?"

"Umm…how is this even a question?" The woman asked.

"I said to state your name and this is my classroom. What I say goes." Morwenna declared.

"Davina Marr." The woman, Davina, introduced herself. She thought for a moment and then answered. "She was immune to the poison?"

"No. Does anyone know the answer?" Morwenna asked.

Skulduggery raised his hand.

"Yes. What is it?" Morwenna questioned pointing the ruler at Skulduggery.

"Skulduggery Pleasant." He introduced. "The poison was in the ice. When the girl drank the iced tea, the ice was still fully frozen. Gradually, as the ice cubes melted the poison was released into the drink."

"Good." Morwenna praised. Looking around the room she pointed the ruler at a man at the back of side of the room. "You. It was the first day of school when a young girl was found dead in the classroom. Police had identified four suspects. The Dean claimed that he was in his office the whole day. The Maths teacher claimed that she was giving the midterm exam results to her students. The clerk claimed that he was bringing the mails. The janitor claimed that he was cleaning the toilet on the first floor. Who was lying?"

"The name is Remus Crux and the answer is the Dean. He would have had to leave for a toilet break at some time." Remus said smugly.

"Incorrect." Said Morwenna. "Anyone else want to have a go? No? Well, the Maths teacher was lying. She cannot be giving the midterm exam results on the first day of school."

Morwenna asked a few more questions to different people then she pointed her ruler at Valkyrie who was slowly falling asleep.

"You." Skulduggery elbowed Valkyrie and she jumped up, sitting straight. She then noticed Morwenna pointing the ruler at her. "Adam killed his wife in front of so many people. Yet, no one has the power to accuse him of the murder and send him to prison for his crime. How is this possible?"

"Valkyrie Cain." She introduced herself then thought about the riddle. If it was a murder, someone would have the power to accuse him, so it must have been warranted. Valkyrie began to think of jobs that you could kill people. There wasn't really many jobs now so maybe it was in the medieval times. The only thing she could think of was an executioner so maybe his wife had been sentenced to death. She could hear Crux whispering to the man next to him about how she didn't know it. Davina was also whispering about how she was so young and probably didn't know it as well. Clearing her throat Val looked up at Morwenna. "He was an executioner." She said with certainty. "His wife had been sentenced to death so he had to do it himself since it was his job."

"That's right." Morwenna confirmed. She walked back to the front of the classroom and stood on the platform. "That is the end of the lesson so if you will all make your way out I will see you next lesson." And Morwenna disappeared into the shadows.

Valkyrie and Skulduggery stood up and made their way out the classroom.

"What do you have next?" Skulduggery asked as they walked down a corridor towards outside.

"Duelling. What about you?"

"Attack."

"Well, I better go to the duelling hall then."

Skulduggery nodded. They bid each other good bye and headed off in the direction to their classes.

 _"_ _You could grab her now you know."_

 _"_ _Of course I know that, but then we would be late for our lesson and we don't need our watchers wanting to get suspicious. I'll do it another time."_

 **Duelling**

"My name is Corrival Deuce." Corrival Deuce announced. "I will treat you with as much respect you treat me with."

Valkyrie looked around. The hall they were in was the one Merit and Harmony had fought China and Eliza in. Sun streamed through the windows that didn't have lots of trees covering them and the mats that were there before had been put away so only the bare floor was there. The three bleachers against the wall were painted purple, green and black for some reason. Her Uncle did have odd tastes.

"Alright girls. This is how this class goes. The first few lessons I will see you energy and strength and then I will partner you up with someone suitable for you. For now though, 10 laps around the hall. Go." Corrival ordered.

 **Maths**

Valkyrie was walking to Maths when it happened. Someone grabbed her from behind and put their arm around her throat and held it tight so she couldn't breathe. She clawed at the arm when black dots began clouding over her eyes and then bit it. Valkyrie fell forward as the arm let go of her throat and she gulped in a lung full of air.

Standing, she quickly turned around and saw a man standing there. He was around 6 foot tall and really pale. With black hair and black clothes he looked a lot like a vampire. Suddenly he lunged at her in a fluid movement and she dodged to the side just in time. 'Definitely a vampire' she thought.

Clicking her fingers she brought a flame to her hand and willed it to grow bigger. Once it had grew big enough for her she threw it at the vampire but as he dodged it caught the edge of his jacket. The vampire struggled to get it off but once he did it had already been burnt enough that you couldn't wear it again.

"That was my favourite jacket!" He snarled lunging at Valkyrie again.

This time though, as she went to dodge, he grabbed her arm and slammed her against the wall. Crying out in pain she knew her back would be bruised by the morning. The vampire put his hand around her throat and squeezed. The black dots came back and she began to feel dizzy as she struggled to breathe. As she tried to think she couldn't think of a way out with no air.

Suddenly the vampire was ripped of her and thrown away. This time someone caught her as she fell forward and tried to breathe. Closing her eyes she waited for the black dots and the dizziness to disappear.

Once the person that was holding her saw she was breathing properly he helped her sit down, leaning her against the wall.

When Valkyrie opened her eyes again she saw two blurry figures dancing around each other. Val closed her eyes again tightly then opened them again. The two blurry figures became clearer and she saw the vampire and Skulduggery fighting. Skulduggery caught the top the vampire was wearing on fire and the vamp ran away, really fast. Had he not ever heard of stop, drop and roll?

"Are you okay?" Skulduggery asked Valkyrie as he picked his hat up that had been knocked off during his fight with the vampire.

Valkyrie nodded but as she went to get up she hissed in pain. Her back was hurting as if someone had ran a truck over it. It was definitely going to be bruised.

Skulduggery walked over to her and held out a hand to help her get up. Grabbing onto it he pulled her up so she was standing. Cursing under her breath about staking a vampire they made their way towards the infirmary.

 **In the infirmary**

Skulduggery and Valkyrie walked into the infirmary side by side, Skulduggery helping Valkyrie because it was painful for her to walk after the adrenaline had worn off.

The infirmary was a large room, though not as large as the duelling hall, filled with beds, curtains and an office and supply room at the back.

Kenspeckle Grouse walked out the office when he heard the doors open and was pleasantly surprised when he saw Valkyrie but the pleasantness deflated when he saw Skulduggery. He had met Valkyrie when she was only young and had dripped over outside. After the first meeting and many after he had felt like he had Grandad kind of bond with the girl.

Skulduggery on the other hand was one of trouble. Always coming with a friend of his after a fight or bringing someone that he had a fight with and that needed healing. It was a surprise to Kenspeckle that Valkyrie would hang out with such a mischief maker but then again it didn't. She would always bring some kind of trouble with her if that was a new prank she learnt or simply getting in the way of his work.

Kenspeckle looked concerned when he saw Skulduggery helping Valkyrie over towards one of the infirmary's beds.

"What happened?" Kenspeckle demanded as he made his way over to the duo.

"Vampire." Skulduggery spat.

"What, no 'Hello'?" Valkyrie asked wincing when she tried to stretch her back.

"Hello Step-." Kenspeckle went to say but was interrupted by Valkyrie.

"It's Valkyrie Cain now." Val corrected.

"Of course it is. Cain, if I'm not mistaken I am sure that means trouble." Kenspeckle chuckled. "You were always one for that." Kenspeckle turned serious. "So what happened with this vampire? I sure hope the skeleton didn't take you into a dangerous situation."

Valkyrie grinned when Skulduggery began mumbling about people either not using his name or using nickname he didn't like.

"No, _Skulduggery_ didn't." Valkyrie tried to tell Kenspeckle Skulduggery had a name and he was not just a skeleton. "He actually saved me from the vampire." Kenspeckle shivered at the word. He was not a fan of vampires. "Just got slammed into the wall, that's all, otherwise I wouldn't be here."

"That's all? That's ALL!? Step- Valkyrie Cain! Getting slammed into a wall by a blood sucking lunatic isn't a _'_ _that's all'_. Now let me have a look at that back of yours."

Kenspeckle moved Skulduggery and then pulled a curtain around the bed so it was only him and Valkyrie. Telling her to take of her jacket he twisted her around so her back was at the edge of the bed and her feet hanging off the other. He then lifted the back of her top up and cursed under his breath.

The whole of her back has a purply black colour. Quickly walking out the curtain he went into his supply room, grabbing a cream to stop the swelling, leaves to stop the pain and a yellowish rock to get rid of the bruises he quickly walked back through the curtain to Valkyrie.

"Here." He said giving Val a leaf. She chewed on it slowly, knowing what to do since she had done it many times. Opening the cream he held her shirt up with one hand and rubbed the cream on it with the other. He felt Valkyrie tense under his hand but he knew the leaf would start working and could tell as she started to relax. Letting Val's top fall back over her back Kenspeckle gave Valkyrie the rock and went to put the cream back into the supply room.

On the way back he spotted Skulduggery sitting on the bed, opposite of Valkyrie's, watching him walk in and out of the curtains. Kenspeckle shook his head and told Valkyrie he was done while pulling back the curtains.

"You have discolouration all over your back so just use the rock in a warm bath tonight and it should disappear by the morning. Eat these leaves when the pain becomes too much." Kenspeckle told Valkyrie as she stood up of the bed. Handing her the leaves he watched as Skulduggery and Valkyrie left. Sighing he wished Valkyrie wouldn't get into too much trouble but knew his wishing was for nothing. She had trouble in her name and she hangs out with Skulduggery Pleasant. They grow up too fast.

 **In dorm 499**

Valkyrie sighed, glad the rock had worked. She had just been for a bath and her back felt a lot better.

After she and Skulduggery had been to the infirmary, they had met up with everyone and had went for some coffee or tea in the café. She had found out then that the vampire that she was attacked by was Dusk, another person on probation.

What she wanted to know was why? She had never seen Dusk in her life and she was satisfied that she had burnt his jacket. She had also thanked Skulduggery for helping her and he had told her that it was his free period and he was just wondering the corridors when he heard her cry out in pain.

Valkyrie, Harmony, Merit and Tanith had all had a film night just relaxing and chatting since Valkyrie still hadn't had a bath then and couldn't do much. She was glad she had made such good friends.

Now, what she wanted was a good night's rest.

 **Reviews and follows are always welcome. I will answer your reviews at the top of the next chapter.**


	7. Kidnapped!

**Hi guys. I'm back. Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **Dear Dulce Imaginatio, thesparrowfliessouthforwinter and Snowfrost/Ponybird21,**

 **Your characters will be in the next chapter. Hope you enjoy this.**

 **Dulce- How old is Madison Queen?**

 **From M.E.**

 **2** **nd** **day of classes –** September 20th Tuesday

Valkyrie groaned when she woke up in the morning. Her back ached and she couldn't sit up. Rolling onto her stomach she grabbed one of the leafs Kenspeckle gave her. Popping it into her mouth she chewed on it and sighed in relief when the pain began ebbing away.

Pushing herself up Valkyrie sat on her bed and went to check her phone for the time but glared at the empty place on her bed side table where her phone should have been. She hoped Gordon would hopefully find a phone for her and soon. She didn't want to end up in another situation without a phone.

Deciding to get up she got changed into some jeans, a t-shirt, pumps and a black leather jacket. Walking out of her room Valkyrie went into the living room and found no one there. Looking at the clock on the wall she noted it was only 7:30am and breakfast didn't start till 8:00.

Dropping down onto the sofa she turned on the T.V and found a film she began to watch. Somewhere through the film Merit, Harmony and Tanith had joined her. Harmony sighed.

"When are we going for breakfast?" Harmony asked.

"What time is it?" Valkyrie asked sitting up from her slouching position.

"8:13am." Harmony answered.

"Now?" Valkyrie said standing up.

"Sure." Harmony said standing up and going to grab her jacket from her room.

Valkyrie watched as Tanith stood up and put her sword in the cupboard by the door and Merit stand up and stretch.

When Harmony returned they all began their way towards the canteen for breakfast.

 **Lunch**

By the time lunch had rolled around Valkyrie's back had become to hurt again and she struggled to sit down and stand up. Sanguine, Harmony, Tanith and Saracen were already sat at the table. When she sat down in the canteen with her food she winced.

"You okay Val?" Sanguine asked.

She shook her head. "I forgot to bring my leaves down with me."

Harmony looked up from her food. "I'll go get them for you." Harmony offered.

"No, I'll get them." Valkyrie disagreed, going to stand up but dropping back down into her seat when the pain became too much.

"I'll be quick." Harmony said, standing up and disappearing through the floor.

"Hey guys." Dexter said as he came and sat down next to Valkyrie.

"Hey." Val muttered, clenching and unclenching her fist under the table. She groaned when someone knocked into her back.

"Shoot. Sorry Val." Merit said.

"It's f-fine." Valkyrie muttered. Val wandered why it was so painful now. Why not after the attack? Then she reasoned that it was the adrenaline.

"Where's Harmony?" Merit asked sitting down on the other side of Dexter.

"She's gone to get Val's leaves." Tanith explained looking worriedly at her friend.

"Valkyrie, are you okay?" Skulduggery asked as he and Anton came and sat down.

Valkyrie grumbled. She really wished Harmony would hurry up. It really shouldn't take her this long.

"Something's wrong." Saracen suddenly spoke up. He was frowning and his eyes had a faraway look as if he was concentrating on something. "Harmony." He suddenly gasped.

Merit's P.O.V

Merit eyes widened when Saracen said Harmony's name. Her thoughts went back to when Valkyrie was attacked. She looked around and saw Fletcher. Standing up she rushed to him. Merit grabbed his collar and turned him towards her.

"Teleport me to the dorms, now!" Merit growled. Fletcher swallowed and nodded quickly. The two disappeared.

As soon as they were teleported in front of the dorm building Merit let go off Fletcher and ran through the door. She growled in annoyance as she saw all the stairs she had to go up. Merit shifted into an eagle and began flying up, trying to go as fast as she could. She kept her senses open in case she could hear or smell something.

As she made it to her dorm, she shifted back and landed on the floor. The door was kicked and as she entered the room slowly she found signs of struggle. The sofa was tipped over and the TV had been smashed. Going into the kitchen she found some knifes on the floor. Merit eyes glared at some splashes of red liquid. Blood. She checked the bedrooms and bathroom but they were okay.

Merit knew who had done this. Mevolent. He had had Dusk attack Valkyrie. She hadn't told anyone because she didn't want to worry them. Now, she wished she had, so then they would be wary and be ready for a fight if needed. Her phone began ringing from her back pocket of her jeans.

Grabbing it she checked who it was. Anton. Answering the call she put it to her ear.

" _Merit! Where are you?_ " Anton's voice was panicked and he seemed out of breath.

"At my dorm." Merit kept it short and precise. She walked into the kitchen and pulled a chair out from the table. Sitting down she looked around the room. There was blood and knifes. Obviously it got serious.

" _Stay there. We'll be there in a minute._ " Anton's voice cut through her thoughts. Merit nodded but then remembered he couldn't see her.

"Okay." Merit sighed. She was too young for this crap. She ended the call and laid her head on the table and closed her eyes.

Merit didn't know how much time had gone but she heard people talking and footsteps. She jumped when a hand was put on her shoulder.

"Merit?" Tanith said, sounding unsure.

"I should have known something was happening. That my brother was planning something." Merit growled out, glaring at her hands on her lap. "He got Dusk to attack Val. I should have said something."

"Hey! It's okay." Tanith reassured sitting down in a chair next to Merit. "We'll find Harmony. My cousin is strong."

Merit nodded and stood up. She needed to begin looking and finding clues. She wouldn't let her brother get away with it. Not this time. Hurting one friend was over the line but kidnapping another was way, way over that line. It was in another league.

"Merit." Ghastly said holding a piece of paper. "I think this is for you."

Merit walked over and took the piece of paper off if. Turning it around the first thing she noticed was her name at the top, scribbled in her brother's writing.

' _Merit,_

 _It has a million stories but cannot tell them. You have 36 hours to find us._

 _Your least favourite brother_

 _Mevolent._ '

A riddle. Merit hated riddles. That's why she never signed up for the detective class. Looking around the room she looked for Skul and Val because they were good at riddles. But they weren't in the room. Looking back at Ghastly she gave him a questioning look.

"Where's Skul and Val?" She asked, folding up the note and putting it in her pocket.

"Still at lunch. Valkyrie never got her leaves." Ghastly explained.

Merit nodded. "I'll go give them to her."

Walking out the kitchen and towards the bedrooms. Merit got to Val's door and went in. She had been in there a few times but Val still hadn't painted it yet. They were supposed to do it this weekend. It might not happen though. Seeing the leaves on the bedside table, she grabbed them and left. Going back into the kitchen she looked at Tanith.

"Will you be okay here?" Merit asked looking around. Ghastly, Dexter and Saracen were looking for more clues while Anton and Fletcher were trying to tidy up. Main word, 'trying'.

"Yes." Tanith nodded, reassuring Merit. Merit nodded and went towards the door but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. "Don't do anything crazy." Tanith said.

"I won't." Merit said, this time reassuring Tanith.

"I'll go with her to make sure." Anton said coming up behind her.

Tanith nodded and went back to trying to clean all the knives off the floor. One was stuck deeply into the wall. Merit waved at Tanith and her and Anton made their way back to the canteen.

"Are you okay?" Anton asked once they were away from the dorm.

"Apart from my best friend being kidnapped, yes, everything in the world is fine." Merit said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"So what's your plan now?" Anton asked as they left the dorm building. People were walking and sitting outside enjoying the warm weather.

"I'm gonna see if Val or Skul can work this riddle out." Merit explained, getting the note out her pocket and handing it to Anton. Anton read over the note and handed it back to Merit.

"That's not really very helpful." Anton said.

"No kidding. Mevolent always did love riddles." Merit explained as they walked into the main building. Walking down the corridor and turning a few corners, they made it to the canteen.

Skulduggery, Valkyrie and Sanguine were all sat around the table, but none of them were talking.

"Here." Merit said, putting the leaves down in front of Val. Valkyrie opened the bag and put one in her mouth, slowly chewing it.

"Thanks." Val sighed happily. Merit watched as Val looked her over. "What's wrong? You look tense."

Merit sighed and pulled the note out, placing it on the table. Skulduggery picked it up and began reading. Merit and Anton sat down.

"Harmony's been kidnapped." Merit whispered.

"What?" Sanguine hissed, looking angry.

"As I said, Harmony's been kidnapped." Merit repeated. "Ghastly found that note somewhere. It's got a riddle on it. I thought Skul or Val might know what it means."

"It has a million stories but cannot tell them." Skulduggery said thoughtfully. Merit watched as Skulduggery passed the note to Valkyrie.

"It says 'least favourite brother'." Valkyrie said, looking at Merit. "Does that mean you have another brother?" Val passed the note to Sanguine.

Merit thought for a moment. What could she tell them? They are her friends. Anton already knew and he took it fine. "Yes, I do." Merit admitted. "He's thirteen, two years younger than me. I'll have to tell you the story that goes with it if you want to know about him."

"Can you tell us?" Sanguine asked intrigued.

Merit nodded. "It was two years ago….."

 **Cliff hanger. Hope you enjoyed it. If you have any ideas on what I could do next please send it to me. Also, you can ask about the characters if you're confused about them but I might not be able to tell you some things.**

 **Reviews are always welcome and if you have any questions I will answer them at the top of the next chapter.**


	8. Story time

**Hi guys. Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **Well done Ponybird21 for getting the riddle right.**

 **Thank you everyone for sending more oc's in. I'm going to start using them in my next chapter. I promise.**

 **Here's the chapter.**

 **DISCLAIMER: Skulduggery Pleasant series isn't mine. The plot and some of the characters are though.**

 _The wind howled as the snow fell down harshly onto anyone that walked outside. There were many cloaked figures that walked the treacherous snowy hills that evening. All of their hoods were pulled up, blocking the wind and snow from getting to their faces._

 _They were following a path that led to a secret town. One made up of Magic. They were going to destroy it._

 _The one at the front held his hand up so then the people knew to stop where they were. They stopped a little way from the village, hiding behind the trees that formed the woods. The man brought his left hand out of the cloak and clicked his fingers. Instead of just making a clicking noise it made a spark, which grew in the palm of his hand until it was a decent size ball of fire._

 _He moved his whole arm back and out of the warmth of the cloak and threw the fireball. It moved fast, cutting through the air as if it was a hot knife to butter. It sailed, then hit its target. It was a wooden lodge. One of the only ones in the town. It began to burn, and then came the screams._

 _The man chuckled and then began a full blown laugh._

 _"_ _Friends." The man chuckled, his deep voice spreading over the group. "Tonight we destroy the ones who wronged us."_

 _After the man's speech the people in the group cheered and then ran towards the town, some throwing more fire balls, some others attacking the people from the town with swords and axes._

 _The Elders of the town came out of their homes began to shout orders, telling all the young children, elderly and ill to head to the meeting hall; as it was the safest place to be in an attack. The Elders quickly joined the fight, because even though they were the Elders, it didn't mean they were too old to fight._

 _The man from the attacking group, the leader, chuckled again as he set another house on fire._

 _"_ _Mevolent!"_

 _The man, now known as Mevolent, turned away from the burning house and saw a group of people running towards him. A girl, no older than thirteen, with brown hair and rainbow eyes, a boy with spiky blonde hair that looked the same age as the girl, and finally a younger boy with brown hair and brown eyes with black wings on his back._

 _"_ _Mevolent! You traitor!" The girl shouted angrily as she slowed to a stop a few feet away from Mevolent._

 _Mevolent chuckled, for the third time that evening. "Merit, as if I would be a traitor. I was never on your side to begin with. Ever since you were born it was always, 'Isn't she so cute', 'Such a better behaved child than you're first born'. Then our little brother arrived. He was born with Father's wings which made him even more special, and made me more forgotten. Bet you all regret that now."_

 _"_ _I do have a name, you know. You could use it." The boy with wings stated. He seemed to be the youngest there, looking 11._

 _"_ _Of course I know your name, Midnight, how could I forget? Everyone always saying about how amazing your wings are." Mevolent scowled, igniting a fire ball in his left hand behind his back. As quick as he could, he threw it at the trio. As it hit the ground in front of the kids, it exploded knocking things around it back._

 _Mevolent smirked as he turned to his left. The trio now stood there, the blonde holding onto Midnight and Merit._

 _"_ _Thanks Fletcher." Merit thanked gratefully. Fletcher nodded and let them both go. He had quickly teleported the three of them away from danger._

 _"_ _And finally, the only teleporter in the town. Very hard to beat that." Mevolent explained._

"Wait, you knew Fletcher before school?" Valkyrie asked. She had been listening to Merit tell the story quietly but she had thought Merit had met Fletcher at school.

"Yes. We grew up together." Merit explained. "Supposedly, we were betrothed but Fletcher thought of me as a little sister, even though I'm older than him."

Valkyrie nodded, looking back at the note. _'It has a million stories but cannot tell them'._ She'd have to keep thinking.

"So as I was saying." Merit continued. "Me, Midnight and Fletcher decided to attack but it was hard, I mean he wasn't the strongest warrior for slacking off. In the end most of his 'bad guy' group had been defeated and rounded up. He was then defeated buy my Father. That was the time he was disowned and I was declared heir."

 _"_ _How dare you attack this town." Rhydian hissed. He was the Lord of the land which the town resided on. He was also known for being Mevolent, Merit and Midnight's Father._

 _Mevolent glared defiantly from the non-magic cage he had been put in._

 _"_ _You are here by disowned from my family and being stripped of your title of heir." Rhydian declared, saying it loudly so all the town's people that were stood in a circle around the cages filled with 'bad' guys could hear. Gasps could be heard around the crowd._

 _"_ _But Father-."_

 _"_ _Merit. Quiet." Rhydian ordered._

 _"_ _But I-."_

 _"_ _Merit." Rhydian warned._

 _"_ _Yes Father."_

"It was a horrible day." Merit sighed. "I never did want to be heir. I argued with Father all night until morning. It was always Mevolent's job. He grew up learning up about politics and how to run the land. Father never did want Mevolent to be heir. There was never a bond between them. Mevolent and his group were then sent away. Me and Midnight were then classed as the only children of Lord Rhydian. That's the story of why Mevolent hates me so much. It's because I'm heir."

"I remember that day." Sanguine said.

"Wow." Valkyrie muttered.

"I've got it." Skulduggery declared.

"Got what?" Val asked turning towards Skulduggery. He was looking down at the note.

"The riddle. It means the library. 'It has a million stories but cannot tell them'." Skulduggery explained, standing up quickly. "Let's go."

Valkyrie nodded and stood up, making sure to grab the bag of leaves and stuffing them into her pocket and walking to the library. Merit, Anton and Sanguine stood as well and followed after Skulduggery and Valkyrie.

The group left the canteen and made it outside. The library was in a separate building to the canteen and some of the classrooms. The building was made of red brick and stood three storey's high. Its white roof shone under the bright sun.

Valkyrie's eyes widened when they walked in. It was huge! Shelves upon shelves of books were packed in with tables and chairs set up around with sofas. It smelt of old books and wood which was a relaxing smell and Valkyrie couldn't understand how Harmony could be hidden in here. There were couple more floors above them but you could see down the walkways easily.

"What now?" Sanguine asked annoyed.

Valkyrie stood by Skulduggery looking around. A movement out of the corner of her eye took her attention away from searching for clues. A piece of folded paper was falling slowly to the ground. Leaving the group, Valkyrie ran over to it and grabbed it out the air.

Opening it up she began to read it.

 _You worked it out. I'm surprised. Let's see if you can get this next one._

 _For your next clue, think one, think two_

 _From_

 _M._

"That makes no sense." Valkyrie muttered.

"What is it?" Merit asked. Valkyrie handed it over to Merit who then showed it to Anton, Sanguine and Skulduggery.

"That makes a lot of sense." Sanguine sarcastically remarked.

"I want to know where it was falling from." Valkyrie said cautiously, looking suspiciously back over to where it was falling.

"I don't know nor care. We've got our next clue." Merit said. "Which makes no sense."

"I think we already established that." Sanguine informed Merit, who scowled at him.

Skulduggery took the note out of Merit's hand and held it up to the light so he could see through the paper. Nothing was shown other than the writing.

A bell was suddenly heard going through out the library.

"We've got classes." Anton stated. He had been quiet most of that time, studying around them.

"Brilliant." Merit hissed.

That night 11:57pm

That night Valkyrie walked out of her room towards the kitchen, cursing when she stubbed her toe on a chair. She was half asleep but had needed to get a drink. Switching on the light she pulled a chair to the cupboard. Climbing up on top of it she opened the cupboard and grabbed a glass.

The apartment, if you could call it that, had been cleaned and tidied up. All the broken stuff had been put into the dumpster outside the dorm building. The blood had been wiped up but some had stained the wall.

Sighing, Valkyrie turned on the tap and let the cup fill with cold water. Once filled, she turned it off and put her cup on the side while she put the chair back by the table. Grabbing her cup, now filled with water, she took a sip. Walking back over to the corridor that leads to the bedrooms she saw the notes which were stuck to the fridge. Merit had stuck them there after they came back to the apartment.

Taking another sip of her drink she switched the lights off. Before she took another step a green glow stopped her. Looking back into the room Valkyrie located the glow to be coming from one of the notes on the fridge. Putting her cup down on the table she went over to the fridge and grabbed the glowing note. It was second one they had retrieved. Drawn in green glowing pen was a tap. She could still see the writing so the tap must be another clue.

"Merit! Tanith!"

 **Hope you enjoyed it. Another cliff-hanger! Hope you enjoyed.**

 **Reviews and ideas are always welcome.**


	9. New friends

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Skulduggery Pleasant and I don't own some of the OCs. I only own the plot, the school and Merit and Midnight.**

 **Hey guys. Sorry for not posting in a long time but I've been busy with life and needed some inspiration. If anyone has any ideas of what I should do after I've finished Harmony's kidnapping please tell me. Hope this makes up for things though.**

 **Thank you to these people for the character ideas.**

 **Madman2.60**

 **tapdancinspider**

 **Blue Iris**

 **miss cain**

 **Dulce Imaginatio**

 **CardassianTrekkie (Snowfrost)**

 **HydratedAriesBlossom**

 **amethyst468**

 **3** **rd** **day of classes -** September 21st Wednesday

Valkyrie's dorm - Morning

"We're going to have to skip lessons." Skulduggery explained. The Dead Men, Merit, Tanith and Valkyrie were all sat in the girl's dorm planning how they were going to get Harmony back.

"It could be a trap." Anton stated. He had been thinking over it and it seemed too easy as getting riddles right.

Valkyrie nodded and there were a few grunts of agreement.

"We can't all skip classes." Tanith put in. "It would get suspicious."

"How haven't the teachers noticed Harmony's absence?" Valkyrie questioned. It had been bugging her for a while. "And doesn't Mevolent and his goons have watchers?"

"They could be using their free lessons." Dexter pointed out. "It would explain how the teacher's haven't got suspicious."

"And maybe they think Harmony's ill." Saracen added.

Valkyrie hummed thoughtfully.

"We'll use our free lessons then." Skulduggery declared. "We all have at least one free lesson so we can still get to lessons and help."

"I could get more people to help. I know a few groups of people who would be willing to help." Merit explained. She had been leaning against the kitchen wall staring of into space. "It would be more free lessons and people to look."

"Who's got free lesson first?" Skulduggery asked the group. "I do."

"So do I." Ghastly replied.

"Let's get to it then. We have just over 24 hours."

Valkyrie smiled. They had a plan and a team. She watched Skulduggery grab the two notes off the table and walk out the room with Ghastly. They could do this. They would find Harmony.

 **With Merit**

Merit sighed as she flew down a corridor. She had shifted into a sparrow so she wouldn't be caught by any teacher's or straggling students. It felt like it had been day's since she lasts saw Harmony when it had actually only been under 12 hours. It hadn't even been a day.

The first group of people she needed to find was a trio and she knew they would probably be bunking, again. She'd met the group last year when she accidently walked into one of their pranks which was meant for a teacher.

Twirling round the corner Merit stopped short when she saw two people and a cheetah running towards her.

The person on the left was Logan. She had golden brown hair, blue eyes, pale skin and was 15 years old. You would think she was a teacher's pet until you saw her pranks. The teacher's still didn't believe Logan would ever pull a prank as she was their 'perfect' student. Everyone had a wild side. Logan was so good at her pranks because of her necromancy. Since she could shadow walk she was never caught. Not yet anyway.

The girl on the right was Jessie Pointing. She was 16 with brown hair, which was bleached at the end, and brown eyes. Merit believed Jessie and Fletcher had something going on but it hadn't been confirmed yet. She was really talkative and would sometimes talk about the most random things. Her main magic was Elemental but Merit had started teaching her shape shifting. Merit hadn't been able to do a lesson lately though.

The cheetah that was running with them, obviously not at its full speed, was Chrysalis, otherwise known as Chris. In her human form she would have black hair with teal highlights, green eyes and tan skin. She was 16 and people would already say she was insane. Merit enjoyed having flying competitions with Chris since she was also a shape shifter.

Merit was hovering in the air when she heard the shouting of students that had their free period. The trio ran underneath Merit and she started to fly above them, slowly lowering to fly beside them.

"Merit! Fancy seeing you again so soon. I mean it has only been the whole summer holidays and the few weeks we've been in school since we've last had the privilege of seeing you. What's that? Around 2-3 months?" Logan said sarcastically, panting slightly.

Merit winced but she knew she couldn't answer since she was in bird form. She wasn't that advance yet.

"Let's talk about this later." Jessie said. "Let's go to The Den."

The Den was only the dorm the girls shared. They thought it would have been cooler than just 'the dorm'. Their dorm number was 352; two floors down from Merit's. Once they were all in the dorm Merit and Chris shifted into their human forms and the four of them all sat in the living room.

"Look," Merit began. "I'm really sorry for not taking the time to visit you all but I have a problem and I need your help."

"You think you can just walk up to us and—."

"I actually flew." Merit interrupted Jessie. Jessie glared at Merit and she winced as if Jessie was actually hurting her. "Sorry."

"Why do you think we will help you?" Logan asked. She had her business face on so Merit knew she was serious.

"It's about Harmony." Merit explained. "She's been kidnapped."

"Great prank Merit. Do you think we will believe that?" Chrysalis asked, chuckling as she sat upside down on the sofa.

"It's not a prank. Mevolent has got her."

The three girls looked at Merit shocked. Obviously they heard about how Mevolent tried to destroy the town with his followers. Not many of the people who heard about it, liked it, but there were those odd few.

"How?" Chrysalis asked, turning the rights way round and standing up.

"Long story short, Harmony went to get Valkyrie her pain relief leaves, nice girl by the way, I'll have to introduce you sometime, then Saracen said something about Harmony so I rushed to our dorm, where the leaves were kept and Harmony wasn't there. A note had been left by Mevolent and a riddle. Now we're working out the riddles and finding more but we've only got around 22 hours left." Merit explained, gasping for breath as she finished.

"What do you need us to do?" Logan asked.

"Go find Skulduggery and Ghastly. They have the riddle. I'm going to find more people to help." Merit said. Then she shifted into a sparrow and flew out an open window.

"Well that wasn't a surprise." Logan said sarcastically.

Chrysalis smacked her on the back of the head and the three of them went to go find Skulduggery and Ghastly.

 _"_ _Do you think they're ever going to find you? They've wasted more time sleeping then doing anything."_

 _The sound of water dripping was the only thing they could hear in the silence._

 _"_ _They will find me, then they'll kick your ass."_

 _"_ _Let's see if they do then."_

"Rosie!"

The silver haired girl shrieked then disappeared from view altogether.

"Rosie." Merit greeted as she skidded to a stop where the girl had disappeared.

"Oh Merit. It's just you." Rosa Tristis said, coming back into view. Rosa, known as Rosie to her friends, was a 17 years old girl with big blue eyes that complimented her platinum silver hair. Her slight tan gave the impression she had just come back from a sunny vacation. She was shy until you got to know her, then her bubbly personality came to the surface. Rosa was an adept with the power to make her disappear at will which can come in handy in some circumstances.

"That sounded like you didn't want it to be me." Merit joked but frowned when Rosa smiled apologetically.

"So who were you waiting for?" Merit asked, her curious attitude making her forget why she had looked for Rosa in the first place.

"No one you need to know about yet." Rosa answered cryptically looking around to see if the person she was waiting for had come.

"Yet?"

"Yet."

"Anyway. I need your help." Merit said, looking at Rosa seriously.

"What for?" Rosa asked.

"Harmony's gone missing. Well, not missing, she's been kidnapped." Merit whispered, looking around the corridor they were in, making sure nobody was listening in, even though the majority of people were in their classes.

"By who?" Rosa whispered as well.

"Mevolent."

"Really!? What about the watchers? Aren't they supposed to keep them under control?" Rosa asked quietly.

"That's what I thou-."

"Oi. Shouldn't you two girl's be in lessons?"

Both girls jumped as Guild came around the corner, heading straight towards them.

"Skulduggery and Ghastly have a riddle they need to solve. If you want to help go find them or search around the school. If not, don't tell anyone. Now go, I can handle Guild." Merit explained quickly and quietly.

"Thanks Merit." Rosa said, disappearing from view and slipping away from Guild.

"Miss Elementary, I believe you should have cooking now." Guild said, looking down at Merit who smirked at him in response.

"The teachers cut her hand with a knife so had to go see Kenspeckle to get it sorted out." Merit explained, as honestly as she could. That technically had happened, it was just last year, with a different teacher, and she wasn't the one who cut herself, someone might have knocked into her when she was cutting an apple. Now they have Madam Mist for cooking. The other teacher never came back.

"Of course, I knew that. I just saw Mr-."

"Madam."

"I just saw your teacher and she was looking better than ever so off you go to class." Guild lied through his teeth. What person would believe him?

"Of course sir. Goodbye sir. I hope you have fun teaching your History class which you have this lesson." Merit said smirking happily.

Guild's eyes widened slightly, as if he just remembered something her forget. He then smiled a little and rushed back the way he came.

"Idiot." Merit mumbled to herself and shifted back into a sparrow and flying off.

Valkyrie sighed. She was in Geography with Sagacious Tome who droned on, and on, and on, and on, and—you get the picture. Valkyrie didn't like sitting in the classroom doing nothing important when she could be out of class helping look for Harmony. She didn't have a free lesson until 11 o'clock. It was now 09:36.

Valkyrie sighed again. Maybe she could set something up that can get her out of class early. But what? Val looked around the classroom. A few stacks of Atlas' here and there, the black board at the front, the teacher's desk stacked with papers, people sleeping around the class, a globe and the teacher himself. Maybe she could think about the riddle for a little while.

 _'_ _For your next clue, think one, think two'_ and then there was the tap drawn in glow in the dark pen.

A tap. Where are taps normally? The kitchen, a bathroom, a sink-. Idiot. She had been an idiot. Valkyrie went to grab her phone but then remembered she didn't have one anymore. She growled quietly. Now how was she going to tell anyone?

Now she needs to make a distraction. Looking around the room again she grinned as a plan came forward.

Calming herself, she clicked her fingers, letting a small flame grow in her hand. Keeping it small she watched the teacher and when his back was turn-. She threw the flame at the globe. More quickly than she thought, the globe went up in flames. The class suddenly turned into chaos.

Sagacious shouted at everyone to get out the classroom. Valkyrie grinned and ran out, hoping she would be able to find Skulduggery and Ghastly.

Merit flew outside the school looking for her next friend. Monica Bloodlust. A necromancer with long black hair, green eyes and was quiet but scary. Even at the age of 16 Monica was already a great necromancer, picking up her powers quite easily.

Merit found Monica sat in the back of a drama lesson looking very bored. Landing on the windowsill of the window nearest Monica she tapped on t quietly with her beak. Monica looked over at Merit and let a small smile come to her face.

Shifting her chair closer to the window, Monica opened it enough for Merit to get through. Merit flew in and landed on the floor, shifting back into herself but keeping herself low and out of sight of the teacher, Vaurien Scapegrace and his assistant Thrasher.

"Why are you here?" Monica asked quietly, pretending to pay attention to the teacher.

"I'm going to say this quickly because I have more people to see so listen up." Merit whispered. "Harmony's been kidnapped by Mevolent. This was last night. We have under 22 hours to find her and all we have are riddles to help us. If you want to help can you find one of the dead men in your free lesson, or skip if you want, and tell them I sent you. If not don't tell anyone."

"I've got free lesson next. I'll help." Monica whispered.

"Thanks. Can you ask Mads as well? Oh, and Arabella and Chris." Merit whispered. Monica nodded. Shifting back into a sparrow she flew back through the window and off in search of a few more people, again.

"Skulduggery!" Valkyrie shouted, running to catch up to him, Ghastly ad three girls. "I know where the next clue is." Slowly down when she caught up to them she panted slightly, tired from her run to find them.

"Where?" Ghastly asked.

"The toilets." Valkyrie said.

"Explain later." Skulduggery said. "We have to find which toilets now. Logan, Chrysalis and Jessy. Go check out the dorm block. You can get into other people's dorms by changing into little animals and insects."

The three girls nodded and ran off.

"Valkyrie, you go to the schools female toilets and we will got to the male toilets."

Valkyrie nodded and began jogging towards the female toilets.

Merit casually glided through the wind towards the dorm block. There was one last person who she needed to ask to help her before she went to help with the riddles. Midnight Shadow. Her younger brother.

Merit and Midnight hadn't talked much over the two years since Mevolent's attack. With Merit becoming Heir and the responsibility's that come along with it she had become busier than she ever had been. Her brother also had other things going on that kept the two siblings apart. The only time the ever saw each other was at family meetings and get-togethers.

Flying to the very top floor she knew which window to fly to. Merit landed on the windowsill of her brother's dorm and went through the open window. Shifting back to herself she looked around. All dorms mostly looked the same, except if you decorated the walls or changed the furniture.

The majority of the walls were a nice dark purple while the rest were a creamy colour. Her brother had obviously taken over in the decorating as purple was his favourite colour.

"Midnight?" Merit said loudly, hoping her brother was inside and not off flying around.

"Merit?" Merit sighed in relief when her brother came around the corner from the kitchen.

Over the couple of years Midnight had added a streak of blue to his brown short hair and to the tips of his wings. He had grown a few inches as well but was still shorter than Merit. His brown eyes held the playful gleam any young teenager would probably have.

"I need your help." Merit said and began explaining what had transpired over the last 12 hours.

Valkyrie breathed in and out deeply as she came to the last female toilets she knew of. Opening the door, it slammed shut behind her. Walking in the first thing that caught her attention was the string dangling down with a piece of paper stuck on the end. The second thing was the blue sheen around it, as if a force field was protecting it.

Hesitantly reaching out she went to touch the force field but her hand went right through it.

Suddenly the string disappeared and the piece of paper dropped into her hand. Checking her surroundings to make sure the force field hadn't triggered a trap or anything else she grinned when nothing happened.

Rushing out the toilets Valkyrie ran to the nearest male toilets to find Skulduggery and Ghastly.

"So Mevolent is causing trouble again?" Midnight asked. The two siblings had ended up sitting down on the purple couch in the living room when merit explained the last 12 hours.

"Yes."

"Where do we start then?" Midnight asked, standing up and grabbing his dark, nearly black, purple jacket.

"We need to find Skull and Ghastly and hope they figured out the riddle." Merit explained walking over to the window she came in through.

"Well let's go then."

The siblings jumped and flew out the window, Merit as a sparrow and Midnight using his wings. They flew to the ground and went to find Skulduggery and Ghastly.

 **I could really do with some ideas for villains so if you have an idea can you tell me please.**

 **I also need some more ideas for the story so I you have an idea can you also tell me please.**

 **Likes and reviews are always welcome.**


	10. The Sewers?

**Hey. Hope you enjoy the chapter.**

 **Lunch 12:00** Valkyrie's dorm

"There is 19 of us searching for Harmony." Skulduggery explained, standing in front of the TV, in Valkyrie's dorm. "And we have just under 12 hours to find her. Sure, things don't seem that good right now _and_ we're struggling but, I have a plan!"

"Skulduggery." Ghastly said, trying to get his attention.

"We _are_ going to find Harmony. We'll use our quick reflexes and the hope in our hearts." Skulduggery continued, completely ignoring Ghastly and all the annoyed faces in the room.

"Skulduggery." Ghastly repeated.

"We will-"

"Skulduggery!" Ghastly shouted. Skulduggery looked at Ghastly, who was now on his feet and standing beside Skulduggery. "Now is not the time for one of your speeches. Just-"

Valkyrie ignored Skulduggery and Ghastly, and their impending argument. Things had been really tense as the time they had to find Harmony drained away. It was scary. Valkyrie hadn't imagined this was how her first few days of classes, in the school, would be like.

The clue she had found in the bathroom hadn't given them much to go on. It was shaped like a piece from a corner of a jigsaw puzzle. It had curved lines at the bottom left corner and it was partly shaded in. Val knew there had to be more pieces somewhere but didn't know how many or where they were hidden. They didn't have any more riddles to help them find the pieces either.

The frustrated faces around Valkyrie made her believe she wasn't the only one worried about not finding Harmony.

Everyone that knew Harmony had been kidnapped were all in Valkyrie, Merit, Harmony and Tanith's dorm. Valkyrie wasn't sure how they had all ended up there but one at a time they had knocked on the door and came. Except for Skulduggery, who just walked in like he owned the places, with Ghastly coming in behind him shaking his head in disbelief.

Skulduggery and Ghastly were still stood in front of the TV arguing. Jessy Pointing, Logan and Chrysalis were sat on the floor in the corner of the living room talking amongst themselves.

Sanguine was standing by the window staring out of it. He said it was to keep an eye out for anyone that looked suspicious but Valkyrie thought it was because he was missing Harmony and wanted to see her.

Arabella Grace and Madison Queen, who Valkyrie had just met, were both standing by the bookcase. Valkyrie found out the two had really hit it off when they both met at the dorm door.

Valkyrie was sat next to Tanith, on the sofa, with Anton the other side. Val was wondering why Anton wasn't with Merit but then realised Merit was with Midnight, her brother.

Dexter, Saracen, Fletcher and Monica Bloodlust were all sat at the table in the kitchen. Fletcher had, shamelessly, been flirting with Monica while Dexter and Saracen were laughing quietly. Val was surprised Fletcher hadn't stopped yet because of the glare Monica was giving him.

Rosa and Crystyl, or Rosie and Chris as Valkyrie had been told to call them, were sat on the kitchen counter. Rosie was chatting while Chris sat quietly drawing in her book.

Merit and Midnight both leaned against the counter, Merit writing in a notebook while Midnight watched. Valkyrie found Midnight's wings really cool. They dragged across the floor a little bit and Midnight told people to stay away from them so they wouldn't get stood on.

Nothing had been happening other than Skulduggery trying to tell people about his 'plans' while giving pep talks. It had been awkward at the beginning because of how many people were there. Some people, Valkyrie wasn't going to mention names, didn't like other people in the dorm. It had caused a few arguments until Tanith, who didn't have a problem with anyone (at the moment) shouted at everyone to shut up and reminded them all they were there for Harmony.

A knock at the door made everyone freeze and become quiet. All the people that knew about Harmony's kidnapping were already in the dorm so whoever was outside wasn't invited, not that the people in the dorm were either.

Being the closest to the door, Valkyrie got up off the sofa and walked slowly to the door. Skulduggery came behind her, a fireball in his hand ready to be thrown. She looked through the peep hole, and seeing no one out there, she opened the door slowly.

"There's no one here." Valkyrie declared, stepping out into the hallway. Skulduggery stepped out beside her, fireball still in his hand.

She looked left, then right, before looking at Skulduggery and shrugging. The only thing that caught her attention was the open window across from the dorm. Valkyrie went to the window and looked outside. The side of the dorm building that the window was on showed the forest at the side of the school. Looking down she didn't see anyone or anything suspicious so shut the window and locked it. If anyone had used the window to escape they wouldn't be getting back inside now.

She turned back to Skulduggery, who had put out the fireball, and noticed something with sitting on the edge of his hat. She still didn't understand why Skulduggery wore a hat inside but hadn't mentioned it.

"You've got something on your hat." Val said, pointing to it.

Skulduggery reached for his hat and took it off. Valkyrie was surprised he took it off.

"It's another jigsaw piece." Skulduggery said, holding it up while he put his hat back on.

"How did it get on your hat?" Valkyrie questioned, looking around the hallway again, for someone that could have put it on his hat when she wasn't looking but the hallway was empty.

"It must have wanted to be near me so much it jumped onto my hat when I wasn't looking." Skulduggery guessed. Valkyrie couldn't tell if he actually believed what he was saying but hoped not.

She looked at the piece Skulduggery was holding and noticed writing on her side. The writing was upside down so she grabbed it from Skulduggery, twisted it, and slotted it back between the fingers he had been holding it with. Valkyrie could tell she had confused Skulduggery with her actions.

She pointed to the piece before saying, "It has writing on it."

Skulduggery nodded and turned the piece the writing was facing him. Valkyrie frowned, she hadn't even had time to read it after twisting it.

"I am a box that holds keys without locks, yet my locks can unlock your deepest senses. Come find it. Mevolent." Skulduggery read out.

Valkyrie crossed her arms and began thinking what it could be.

"Let's go back inside. We don't know who could be out here watching." Skulduggery said.

Valkyrie nodded and she followed Skulduggery back into the dorm. Once they were both inside, she shut the door. She went to the sofa and sat by Tanith again.

The group of eight that had been in the kitchen had come into the living room while Skulduggery went back and stood in front of the TV. When everyone had become comfortable Skulduggery spoke.

"When all you scaredy cats were frozen in fear, I-" Valkyrie coughed and Skulduggery looked at her before continuing. " **I** mean, me and Valkyrie went outside into the unknown, dangerous lan-."

"Can you get to the point?" Sanguine interrupted. Skulduggery stayed quiet for a couple of seconds before speaking again.

"I would if you ignorant, fleshy-."

"Skulduggery!" Ghastly chided.

"We found another jigsaw piece with a riddle." Skulduggery sulked. He held out the piece and then put it on the coffee table next to the other one.

"What does the riddle say?" Dexter asked.

"I am a box that holds keys without locks, yet my keys can unlock your deepest senses." Tanith read after picking the piece up off the table. She placed it back down and leaned back.

Valkyrie crossed her arms and leaned forward. The two jigsaw pieces stared up at her and it made her feel a little nauseous. Not knowing what could be happening to Harmony didn't help the feeling.

Sure, she had only known Harmony for 2 weeks but it felt like they had known each other for their whole lives. It didn't help that Harmony was kidnapped when she had went to get Valkyrie's leaves. A thought then struck her. They didn't know it would be Harmony getting the leaves. Did that mean they had been planning to kidnap her since they were her leaves? Did they just take Harmony because Valkyrie wasn't there and she had been the one they had been planning to kidnap?

Valkyrie stood from the sofa, walked through the kitchen and sat outside Harmony's room. How hadn't she thought of that? It could be her fault Harmony had been kidnapped.

"It's weird."

Valkyrie looked up in surprise. Merit was in front of her, leaning against the wall, with her arms crosses. Valkyrie wondered how she hadn't heard Merit.

"Which part?" Valkyrie asked curiously, shoving her thoughts about it being her fault away from the front of her mind.

"Mevolent and his 'group' all have watchers, right?" Merit explained. Valkyrie nodded. "How are they able to kidnap Harmony and leave clues for us without their watchers getting suspicious?"

"Maybe their watchers have other things on their minds?" Valkyrie guessed, shrugging her shoulders.

Merit hummed and they sat and stood (leaned) in silence. Valkyrie had been thinking about the watchers. Who were they? She remembers when Merit and she had been chased by Mevolent and his gang. Where were they watchers then?

"Why do we have to figure the clues out? Why can't we just search different places ourselves?" Merit asked, sliding down and onto the floor. It sounded more like she was thinking aloud than asking anyone. They both sat in silence until Valkyrie realised something.

"There isn't!" Valkyrie exclaimed.

"What?" Merit questioned, looking at Valkyrie with a confused look.

"There is nothing stopping us." Valkyrie grinned, jumping up off the floor. She watched as a look of realization went across Merit's face before she smiled as well.

"Oh my, Valkyrie, you're right!" Merit smiled, jumping up. "There's enough of us to follow the riddles and look around the school. We could look in places like…"

"Mevolent's dorm." Valkyrie blurted out. It had been the first place that came into her head.

"Yeah!" Merit nodded.

Valkyrie and Merit shared a look of excitement before they ran back to the living room. Everyone was still sat in silence so when the two girls ran in excitedly, they were given some confused looks.

"What's got you so excited?" Logan asked. Saracen was stood by her with a knowing smirk on his face.

"We've got an idea." Merit exclaimed. "Instead of us all working on the riddles, we could go into groups and search different places we think might have clues."

"Like Mevolent's dorm." Valkyrie added.

Everything was silent before everyone began saying stuff at once. Valkyrie looked around the room before her eyes were drawn to Skulduggery. He was stood there, not moving. She could tell he was looking at her, even if he didn't have eyes. He then began to nod and he tilted his head slightly which, Valkyrie knew, meant he agreed.

"Can everyone please quieten down?" Merit asked. It was obvious no one heard her though because they kept talking.

Valkyrie looked away from Skulduggery and turned to Merit, who was still struggling to get everyone to stop talking so they could make a plan. She looked back to Skulduggery with pleading eyes, hoping he got the idea she needed his help. Skulduggery did and he turned towards everyone. He coughed, rather loudly, and everyone stopped talking and looked at him.

"There are 19 of us searching for Harmony." Skulduggery began.

"Skulduggery." Ghastly warned, making sure he knew it wasn't alright to give one of his stupid speeches.

"I know. I know. Anyway, we're going to need to get into 4 or 5 groups." Skulduggery continued. "So…" He looked around at all the people in the room. "Fletcher, Logan, Jessy, Chrysalis and Monica is the first group. Logan can be in charge. Is anyone making a note of this?"

Merit went into the kitchen and came back with a notebook and a pen. Valkyrie noticed it was the same notebook she was writing in before. Merit flipped it to a page and she wrote down the first group.

"Good. You can search the office, the fields and the canteen. Do the canteen after dinner has finished. Let's see." He looked around the room once again. "Ghastly, Tanith, Dexter, Saracen and Anton. You will be group another group. Ghastly, you're in charge." Ghastly nodded to him. "You can search-."

"I guess we're skipping lessons then." Ghastly commented.

"Yes. Does anyone have a problem with missing lessons?" Skulduggery asked. No one said anything. "Brilliant. Now, group 2, which is Ghastly's group, can search the library, gym and toilets. Group 3 is going to be Crystyl, Madison, Arabella and Rosa. Mads, you're in charge. You'll be using the riddles and finding the pieces. Whoever is left you're with me. If anyone is feeling brave enough can you search the classrooms? Thank you that will be all."

Valkyrie smiled when Skulduggery took a bow. No one applauded. She walked over to him since her name hadn't been called. Group 3 had already took the riddle pieces and left the dorm and Group 1 was just leaving. She watched as Merit and Anton said goodbye to each other and then Group 2 left the dorm.

Valkyrie looked at the people that were left in the room. Skulduggery, Sanguine, Merit, Midnight and herself. Valkyrie thought about how the room seemed empty now that the majority of people that were just there had gone.

"What are we searchin'?" Sanguine asked. He hadn't moved from the window.

Valkyrie looked at Skulduggery and waited for him to respond.

"We, my Texan fellow, are searching the dorms." Skulduggery responded. Sanguine grumbled something that Valkyrie couldn't hear but no one said anything about it, so she left it.

Skulduggery lead the way out of the dorm and everyone, except Valkyrie, followed quietly behind him. Valkyrie looked at the clock. 12:57. They had 3 minutes until classes started and then they would have to keep watch for any teachers patrolling the hallways.

Grabbing her keys from the dish by the door she locked the door behind her and hurried after Skulduggery and the group.

"How are we supposed to know whose dorm is who's?" Merit asked after they'd reached the bottom floor of the dorm building. Valkyrie knew that since Mevolent was on probation his dorm was on the bottom floor. It was so it didn't give him a reason to be on the higher floors and any looking for them didn't have to go up the stairs.

While going down the stairs they had seen a few late students rushing to their classes. Luckily, they hadn't seen any teachers looking for straggling students to hurry along.

"Sanguine is going to help us with that." Skulduggery explained.

"I am?" Sanguine questioned.

The group stopped as Skulduggery checked around another corner. Sanguine almost walked into him but stopped. Behind Sanguine was Midnight and behind Merit was Valkyrie. Skulduggery gave the all clear and they carried on walking.

"Yes. You know where your dorm and their dorm is, don't you?" Skulduggery replied.

"Yeah, I do." Sanguine sighed. "Have to share a dorm with some of 'em."

"Do you want us to feel sorry for you or something?" Midnight quipped. One thing Valkyrie had found out was that Midnight didn't like Sanguine, at all. Merit had spent time with Sanguine and, in her words, found out 'he's an okay guy', but Midnight simply didn't like him.

"No, I don't need ya feelin' sorry for me." Sanguine sneered. Valkyrie found out Sanguine didn't like him either.

"Will you two shut up!?" Merit hissed.

"He started it!" Midnight and Sanguine accused at the same time. They glared at each other.

"And I'm finishing it." Merit said, also glaring.

Valkyrie hadn't noticed until then that they had stopped moving. She had been too busy waiting for a teacher to walk around the corner and find them.

"Are you done now?" Skulduggery stood, facing the rest of the group, with his arms crossed. Valkyrie hid her grin behind hr hand. At that moment he reminded of Guild. A very annoyed Guild.

Sanguine and Midnight nodded.

"Sanguine, please show us which one your dorm is." Skulduggery ordered. Sanguine stood to the door they were stood by. "Well, that was easy. Can you open it?"

Sanguine nodded and Valkyrie watched him shove his hand into his jean pocket and bring out his dorm key. There was a black sunglasses key ring on it; exactly like the ones he was wearing.

"Nice glasses." Merit commented.

Sanguine muttered his thanks.

"Why do you wear sunglasses?" Valkyrie asked. Sanguine seem to freeze at the questions but then carried on opening the door.

"He doesn't have any eyes." Midnight replied.

Valkyrie's eyes widened in surprise. She had not expected that. She had thought that it had something to do with the light being too bright or maybe his eyes were a weird colour, not 'he doesn't have any eyes'.

"That doesn't answer my question of _why_ he's wearing them." Val informed.

Sanguine's dorm door opened and he walked in. Skulduggery followed. Midnight hesitated before Merit pushed him in and then she went in. Valkyrie looked around the hallway before going inside.

The inside was almost the same as Valkyrie's dorm. Where there was a TV in Val's, there wasn't one in Sanguine's. She also noticed that the kitchen didn't have any knives on the counter and that all the windows she could see had locks on so no one could open them. It was like the dorm had been baby proofed.

"People don't like seeing other people with no eyes and I don't like people staring. People aren't bothered by people wearing sunglasses." Sanguine explained. Valkyrie couldn't see what his face was like since he wasn't looking at anyone.

"If that wasn't a moment of honesty, I don't know what is." Merit murmured.

"Who do you share the dorm with?" Skulduggery asked, completely ruining whatever moment had been happening.

"Baron Vengeous and Spring-heeled Jack." Sanguine replied. Valkyrie wondered who they were. Obviously they weren't nice people since they were on probation, but then again, Sanguine was alright. Although Sanguine has become a different guy from when he attacked the town with Mevolent, according to the people that were there.

"I don't think there's going to be anything in the living room or kitchen, they're too open. Can we check their rooms?" Merit questioned, looking around the kitchen.

"Yeah." Sanguine approved. He led the group to the hallway where the bedrooms were. "Vengeous' is first to the left and Jack's is next to his. Mine's the one to the right and the last one is empty."

"Midnight and I will look in Jack's." Merit said, shoving Midnight into the room.

Valkyrie thought she heard Midnight ask something along the lines of "We will?" before the door slammed shut. She looked to Sanguine, who looked confused, and then turned to Skulduggery, who had his hand under his chin, thinking.

"I guess we're searching Vengeous', unless we need to search yours Sanguine." Valkyrie inquired.

"I'm offended you'd even think of that lil' darlin'." Sanguine said, holding his hand over his heart.

"Sure you are." Valkyrie muttered.

"Anyway," Skulduggery said, clapping his hand in a cheery manner. "Let's search Vengeous' room."

30 minutes later

"Nothing in Jack's room." Merit scowled.

Valkyrie looked up, away from the drawers she had been rooting. Merit was standing in the doorway of Vengeous' room with her arms crossed. Midnight stood behind her, unhappy as well.

"Nothin' in here either." Sanguine sighed.

Valkyrie grabbed the socks off the floor and carefully put them back in order she had found them. For such a bad guy he was very neat. His socks had been in colour order, then in size order and finally in material order. Wool, cotton, silk then polyester. Valkyrie was glad she wasn't that neat. It must take time to sort them out.

"There's nothing over here." Valkyrie murmured, twisting the red, woollen sock to the left a little. "Skul, you got anything?"

Skulduggery didn't say anything for a moment. He then turned away from the desk he had been searching. Valkyrie focused on Skulduggery's hands which held a green pen.

"What ya got there Skully?" Sanguine smirked. Valkyrie smiled at the nickname he had given Skulduggery.

"My name is Skulduggery, _Billy_ ," He retorted, "and here in my hand is what we call a pen. We use it to write with and-."

"Why is it important then?" Midnight asked, his wings ruffling irritably.

"It is-."

"Hello!? Anyone in here?"

Valkyrie froze. Who was that? She could hear someone walking in the dorm. How did someone think they were in there? They hadn't left any marks or something for someone to trace them into there, unless…

Valkyrie thought of when they first entered the dorm and the event leading to where they were now. She couldn't remember who shut the front door. Merit nor Midnight could have, they were in the kitchen when she had walked through the door. She hadn't. At least, she didn't remember closing it. Maybe Sanguine or Skulduggery had. Then how would the person know someone was in the dorm?

"Hello!?"

Valkyrie closed the sock draw slowly, trying not to make a noise. Merit and Midnight had moved into the room and the door had been shut. Whoever was in the dorm with them hopefully wouldn't go to the bedrooms, especially the one they were in.

"If you're students, class has already started and you will be given detention!" The voice shouted, though it was slightly muffled by the bedroom door, Valkyrie could make it out.

"What do we do?" Valkyrie asked.

"Hide?" Midnight suggested.

"No, we would be found." Merit hissed.

"Well, we can't run for it, we'd get caught." Midnight whispered, slightly panicked.

"Which way is Mevolent's dorm?" Skulduggery questioned.

"The other side of Jack's room." Sanguine replied. Valkyrie was unsure where Skulduggery was going with this.

"How fast can you tunnel four people through the walls?"

Valkyrie understood then. Sanguine could tunnel and go through anything.

"I would have to take you one at a time but I might be able to do it quick enough." Sanguine explained, going to the wall that separated Vengeous' and Jack's rooms.

"Midnight, you first." Skulduggery said.

Midnight shook his head. "Nope, not happening."

"I'll go first." Merit sighed.

Merit grabbed Sanguine's hand and Valkyrie marvelled as they both disappeared through the wall. The wall had just opened up and they had gone through, then the wall had closed up.

Sanguine came back around half a minute later, without Merit.

"Alright buttercup, you're next." Sanguine chuckled, holding a hand out to Midnight. Midnight glared at him and held his wrist instead of his hand. The two then went through the wall.

"Hello!? I know someone is in here!"

Valkyrie walked towards Skulduggery slowly since he was by the wall Sanguine went through. She had been searching the draws on the opposite side of the room. Val winced when the floor creaked.

"Hello!? Are you in the bedroom?"

Valkyrie gulped and stared at the door. Shoot, the person had heard. The door handle started to rattle. She was confused why it didn't open at first but then saw Skulduggery holding his hand out and using the air to keep it from opening.

Sanguine then took that moment to walk through the wall.

"Your turn lil' darlin'." Sanguine said. Val quickly shuffled to Sanguine and took his hand in hers. He pulled her through the wall after him and she almost tripped. Luckily she steadied herself before they started moving across Jack's room to the next wall.

"Hey." Merit greeted, after Valkyrie was through the last wall.

Val let go of Sanguine's hand and he went back through the wall.

She looked around the living room. It was exactly like Sanguine's. Windows locked, no TV and if she looked into the kitchen she would probably find no knives. She began to wonder, did they have any utensils at all? Merit and Midnight were sat on the sofa like they were in their own dorm.

"That was a close call." Skulduggery said, startling Valkyrie. He wiped invisible dirt off his coat.

"Your welcome." Sanguine muttered sarcastically.

"Thanks." Valkyrie thanked Sanguine. Skulduggery nodded his thanks and Merit thanked him. With a little bit of persuasion (a nudge on the arm from Merit) Midnight thanked Sanguine as well.

"Since I was interrupted before I was able to tell you what I had in my hands-." Skulduggery began.

"Can you just tell us what you had?" Merit asked.

"What I have." Skulduggery informed.

"What do you _have_ then?" Valkyrie questioned.

"I have the glow in the dark pen that was used to draw the tap on one of the clues." Skulduggery revealed, holding up the green pen he had held earlier.

"How do you know it's the same pen? Vengeous might just have a glow in the dark pen because of personal for all we know." Midnight reasoned.

"I know this is the pen because it told me so." Skulduggery answered. Valkyrie sighed and shook her head in disbelief. How could he be joking at this time?... She thought he was joking, somewhat.

"What _really_ happened?" Sanguine asked.

"It was in a secret compartment in his desk draw." Skulduggery sighed. Then he mumbled, "You all always don't believe what I say."

"Let's just search the bedrooms in here." Merit said. "We don't need to watch Skul sulk."

"I'm not sulking."

"I'm not sure whose room is who's here." Sanguine explained, as the five of them made their way to the bedrooms.

"So pick one, then search. Got it." Valkyrie said. She chose the first room on the left, opened the door and stepped in.

The room was like any other bedroom before someone decorated it. It was like how hers was now. She still needed to pick the colour theme she wanted. Plain sheets on the queen bed, creamy white paint on the walls, a white ceiling, an oak wardrobe, desk, drawers and bedside table and a black swivel chair for the desk.

The room she was in would seem unused if it wasn't for the big metal cage by the side of the bed. Big enough for a human. She decided to search that last.

Going over to the wardrobe she opened the double doors to find lots of jackets. She rifled through them and just as she was about to search something else she found a jacket crumpled up on the wardrobe floor.

Bending down, she grabbed it and brought it out of the wardrobe. She unfolded it and held it out in front of her. The front of it was normal but when she turned it around the back had a large hole in it. Studying it closer, she saw the edges of the holes had burn marks.

A memory from a couple of days ago came back to her, making her gulp as she stared at the jacket.

 _Clicking her fingers she brought a flame to her hand and willed it to grow bigger. Once it had grew big enough for her she threw it at the vampire but as he dodged it caught the edge of his jacket. The vampire struggled to get it off but once he did it had already been burnt enough that you couldn't wear it again._

 _"_ _That was my favourite jacket!" He snarled lunging at Valkyrie again._

Valkyrie remembered being attacked. A vampire. She had set his jacket on fire and Skulduggery had ended up saving her. That meant this was the vampire's room. Dusk's room.

She shoved the jacket back into the wardrobe, not wanting to hold it any longer. She closed the double doors and went to search something else. The desk caught her eye and she moved to that.

Nothing was placed on the desk itself so Valkyrie opened the top draw. She searched the draw but only found a few bits of plain paper and the odd pen that had run out of ink. She wondered why he would keep empty pens. Sliding the draw closed, she moved onto the bottom one.

Once she opened it she was surprised. "Woah."

The bottom draw was half full of empty needles. Not the type you use to sew, the one you use to take blood or give a vaccination with. She picked one out, careful not to get pricked by any of the sharp ends. Whatever had been in it was gone and only a drop was left. Valkyrie put the needle back in the draw and slid it shut.

She then moved onto the drawers. She searched the top three but only found clothes, a mess compared to Vengeous', but who was Val to judge how bad guys kept their clothes. She doubted the bottom one wouldn't have anything in it other than clothes. She was wrong.

The last draw held glass jars and needles, with safety caps, filled with a liquid. She was curious as to why Dusk would need whatever it was and made a reminder in her head to ask Sanguine.

She grabbed one of the full needles, making sure the plastic safety cap wouldn't come off, and put it in her pocket to show the group later.

After closing the bottom draw, she checked under, and on, the bed and then looked around the cage. She found nothing else that could be useful. She looked around the room and since there was nothing else that she could search, she left the room.

Valkyrie walked to the room across from Dusk's and saw Merit and Midnight searching the room. She went to the room next to the one they were searching and found Skulduggery and Sanguine in there so went to the last room.

The door was closed so she grasped the handle but when she tried opening it, the handle didn't move. She tried again but when it didn't do anything she studied the handle. There was nothing out of the ordinary about it. A normal handle with a key hole. She needed a key.

Valkyrie left the door and went to the room Skulduggery and Sanguine were in. The two of them were on opposite sides of the room. Skulduggery was searching the bookshelf, which must have been brought in by whoever's room it was. Sanguine was searching…well, Valkyrie didn't know what Sanguine was searching. He was staring at nothing in particular and seemed to be deep in thought.

"Has anyone find a key?" Valkyrie asked. Skulduggery and Sanguine turned to face her.

"No."

"No. Why?"

"There's a door that won't open and I need a key." She explained. She also didn't understand how they no one else had seen it earlier.

"Where?" Skulduggery questioned.

Valkyrie walked out the room with both guys following. Once they were all in the hallway, Valkyrie pointed to the door that wouldn't open. The reactions she got wasn't what she was expecting.

"Lil' darlin', are you okay?" Sanguine had a concerned look on his face.

"What?" Valkyrie asked. She was confused. Why would he ask that? "I'm fine, why?"

"Val, there is no door there. It's just the wall you're pointing at." Skulduggery explained. Val balked at him saying that. There was definitely a door there. She could see and feel it.

"There's a door there." Valkyrie insisted. She touched the handle and could feel the cool metal under her hand.

"Hey Skul." Merit called, walking out the bedroom they were, Midnight trailing behind her. "We've found a diary and whoever has written it has a serious problem with you."

Valkyrie looked away from the door. Questions were still flowing through her had. Why can she see the door? Why can't they see the door? Is it actually there? Is it an illusion? If it was real, how would she be able to open it? Would she be the only one to see the key as well?

Shaking her head to get rid of the questions, she then looked to Merit. Merit opened the diary and began to read a passage.

" _I have_ started _to see a connection between him and the girl. It would crush his non-existent heart if something were to happen to her, and he doesn't even realise this. That is why the plan will work perfectly. No one will see this coming. No one."_

"Is that it?" Skulduggery asked, his jaw clenched. Valkyrie would guess that if he was human, his eyes would be narrowed and a frown would mar his face.

"No." Midnight responded, taking the diary off Merit. He then began to read.

 _"_ _It's a shame the vampire hadn't finished her off when he had the chance. Bested by a child. Although she did have help. Now he has a vendetta against her, she's going to be killed if she fights back or not._

 _I hope she's alone soon, then we can see what a vampire with a grudge can really do."_

Valkyrie gulped. She knew this passage was about her and Dusk. He had a grudge against her? Maybe it was because of the jacket catching fire. She didn't want to find out what would happen if she was alone and Dusk found out. Skulduggery might not be able to save her next time.

"We can look at the rest of the diary later." Sanguine said, taking charge since everyone else had gone quiet. "Lil' darlin', you were going on about needing a key?"

"Yeah." Valkyrie nodded.

"For what?" Valkyrie glanced at a confused Merit and Midnight.

"The door." Val said, hoping it would explain everything but obviously not since they can't see said door.

"What door?"

 **2:13pm** Mevolent's dorm

Valkyrie smiled when Tanith and her group walked through the door of Mevolent's dorm. Sanguine had ended up calling Tanith to come and open the 'invisible door', since part of her power is being able to unlock any lock by using her hand.

Skulduggery had sat on the armchair in the living room and read the diary. Valkyrie felt she was missing something with the way he had become quiet and closed off. He seemed to have something against the person who wrote the diary and Val wished she knew who it was.

"I heard I needed to open an invisible door." Tanith joked.

"It's not the first time someone's imagined something." Ghastly jested, staring at Dexter who was busy snooping around. Valkyrie chuckled when he turned around and found most people looking at him.

"What? Why are you all looking at me?" Dexter asked, looking like a confused puppy.

Valkyrie looked to Ghastly with a serious face. "Does that mean you think I'm imagining it?"

"W-what? No Val, of course not." Ghastly spluttered. Valkyrie couldn't keep a straight face anymore and broke out into a big grin.

"I'm messing with you. It's fine." Valkyrie reassured.

"So what door am I trying to open?" Tanith asked.

Valkyrie led Tanith to the 'invisible door'. Sanguine had given it that name when he had phoned Tanith and was trying to explain why they couldn't unlock the door themselves.

"There's nothing there except wall." Tanith stated. Valkyrie sighed, not her too.

"Val, why don't you guide Tanith's hands to the key hole?" Saracen suggested.

Valkyrie nodded and took Tanith's raised hands in her own. She put the hands over the key hole and let them go. Tanith cupped her hands and concentrated. A few seconds later Tanith moved back away from the door and nodded to Valkyrie.

"Done."

Valkyrie nodded back to her and grabbed the handle. She pushed it down and the door made a clicking noise before it opened. She looked back to the group, which now consisted of Tanith, Sanguine, Merit, Midnight, Ghastly, Dexter, Saracen, Anton and Skulduggery.

"Did it open?" Sanguine asked.

"Y-yes." Valkyrie said, shocked that it had worked.

Valkyrie walked through the open door and into the empty room. Nothing was in there. Plain walls and wooden floor.

"Val! Where-Are you okay?" She turned to the door where she could see Tanith standing at.

"Yeah, I'm good." Valkyrie reassured. She went back to the doorway and reached out to Tanith, grabbed her hand and pulled her into the room.

"Woah!" Tanith exclaimed.

"So there is a door." Sanguine marvelled.

"Yes, there is." Valkyrie muttered. "Are you coming in or not?"

She heard some murmurs of "Yeah" and "Sure".

"Careful of the-."

"Ouch!"

"-door frame…"

"It's invisible!" Dexter complained.

Valkyrie sighed and went out the room and helped each person into the room, one at a time, so they didn't walk into the real wall.

"There's nothing in here." Sanguine stated.

Valkyrie hummed, along with a few other people, and kept walking around the room. Someone's phone ringing interrupted the annoyed atmosphere.

"Sorry." Merit apologised, bringing her phone out of her pocket.

"It's Logan. They've found 7 jigsaw pieces." Merit's eyes widened. "It's a sewer grid. Guys, Harmony's in the sewers!"

 **Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review and tell me what you think.**


	11. We can do this

**Hey guys. Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

"It could take days to find Harmony in those tunnels."

"We don't even know that."

"It would be a miracle if we were to just stumble across Harmony."

"We could split up again."

"No, they might want us to do that."

"Yeah. We need to stick together. We'll be harder to find because we're in one group and it's also for safety."

"Sure. _Safety._ That isn't really our first priority, Harmony is."

"But if we're all captured or injured, no one can save Harmony."

"Harmony's relying on us."

"Isn't there another way?"

"It would be easier to split-."

"We're not splitting up!"

Valkyrie groaned. She wanted to bang her head on the wall…..so badly. No one was taking charge. They all had ideas but no one was sorting through them. It would be a lot easier if they knew where Harmony was or knew if there were any rooms in the sewers where she could be being held. A map would help right about now.

Valkyrie blinked. How could she have forgotten? She had blueprints of the school. Tanith, Merit, Harmony and herself had found them in their art room. They were still there so she would need to go get them.

She slowly shuffled away from the group. Everyone was back in one big group and they were all back in her dorm.

Opening the front door, she checked outside for a teacher. When she was sure there wasn't one, she snuck out and closed the door behind her quietly. She checked for any teachers again before heading off to The Art room.

She probably should have got used to the quietness of the corridors by now with all the sneaking she has been doing lately but the silence still put her on edge. At any moment a teacher could come round the corner and—

"Where are you going?"

Valkyrie froze and turned slowly to look behind her. Had a teacher caught her? Was she not going to be able to get the blueprints?

She turned all the way around and sighed in relief. "Skull. I thought you were a teacher."

Skulduggery stood behind her and tilted his head in amusement. "That's nice of you. Though, I would make a splendid teacher if I do say so myself."

Valkyrie smiled slightly and carried on walking to The Art room.

"I'm going to get blueprints for the school. They should have the sewer layouts on them." Valkyrie explained as they found the stairs that lead down to the old part of the school.

"Ah," Skulduggery said, "The ones you found in that room you have turned into an art room."

"How did you-?"

"I have my ways," Skulduggery said mysteriously. Valkyrie looked at him out the corner of her eye as they turned another corner. He seemed to be relaxed as normal but she could see a slight tenseness that isn't usually there. She could see his skull slightly moving to the side every so often as if he was looking behind him for anyone following them.

"Is the door normally left open?"

Valkyrie stopped staring at Skulduggery and looked in front of them. The door to The Art room was open slightly and she could hear someone, or a group of people, inside. Clicking her fingers she summoned a flame to her hand and found Skulduggery had done the same.

They both walked slowly to the door. Skulduggery reached out a gloved hand and opened the door. The things inside stopped what they were doing at stared at the pair.

Valkyrie stared back. Inside the room were a group of paper people. Their skin was black and their eye were hollow. Valkyrie looked around The Art room and found it was half way through being ransacked. Much of the pots of paints they had stored were opened and thrown across the room. All different colours decorated the floor and walls. Some of the cabinets they had kept were dented while others were empty, their draws having been taken out.

"What are they?" Valkyrie asked. The paper people stared at them but as soon as she spoke it was as if it turned on a switch within them. They charged.

Skulduggery was the first to move out of the pair and quickly threw the fireball in his hand. It hit one of the paper people at the front and set it alight. The paper person stepped back and bumped into some of the others and set them alight as well.

Valkyrie followed Skulduggery's lead and threw her fireball at one that hadn't caught on fire yet. It was quickly left as ashes. It took a few more fireballs each before all the paper people were turned into ashes.

Valkyrie looked to Skulduggery who was watching the last of the flames to die out. Once it had extinguished Skulduggery turned to look at her.

"They are called Hollow men. A paper-like skin filled with gases. Flammable gases." Skulduggery explained. "They are easily made and since they are so cheap to be created they can be made in big groups."

Valkyrie nodded. "It looks like someone knew we were coming to get the blueprints."

"Yes," Skulduggery agreed, "I believe they did. Hollow men are usually Serpine's style." Skulduggery lifted one of the cabinets up so it was standing again. "Did they find the blueprints?"

Valkyrie smirked. "No. They were only searching in cabinets and things in the room. I hid them a bit better than that."

Valkyrie knelt down at the edge of the room. Skulduggery watched what she was doing. She ran her hand across the edge of the floor, where the wall meets the floor, and something clicked when she went over a certain part. On the opposite side of the room a floorboard lifted up slightly.

Skulduggery pulled the floorboard up and reached inside. He pulled out a roll of blue paper. Valkyrie watched him unravel it and smiled when he nodded. They were the blueprints. Skulduggery put the floorboard back in its place and pushed down slightly until there was click.

Valkyrie went and knelt beside Skulduggery as he lay the blueprints, spread out, on the floor. They both looked over them before they found what they were looking for.

"It looks like there is only one room in the sewers." Skulduggery concluded.

"That's where she'll be then." Valkyrie said. She picked up the other blueprints and wrapped them up while Skulduggery kept a hold of the sewer blueprints. "What's the closest grid that we can go down?" Valkyrie had learnt that each grid around the school had a number on it and she could remember where some of them were.

"15."

"That's behind the library."

"I'll text Ghastly to get everyone to meet us there then."

Valkyrie nodded. "What time is it?"

"3:26pm."

"We've got around 8 hours and 30 minutes left."

Skulduggery put a comforting hand on Val's shoulder. "We can do it."

Valkyrie smiled and nodded. "Let's do it then."


	12. Into the Sewers

_"_ _Why haven't your Hollow men come back yet?"_

 _"_ _I don't know. I've been here the whole time."_

 _"_ _Find out why then!"_

 _"_ _They're not going to come back. My friends aren't going to be defeated by Hollow men."_

 _"_ _Will someone shut her up!?"_

 _"_ _I'll do it. I've wanted to have some fun."_

 _-SOM-SOM-SOM-_

"We have a problem." Tanith said as she came around the back corner of the library.

Valkyrie looked up away from the grid she and Skulduggery had been trying to open. Only Tanith, Ghastly, Anton, Dexter, Saracen, Sanguine, Merit and Midnight were standing there.

"Where is everyone else?" Valkyrie asked, standing up away from the grid.

"That's our problem," Dexter said.

"There was a teacher and they got caught," Ghastly explained.

"Not everyone though," Merit hummed, "Fletcher teleported away, Logan hid in the shadows and Chrysalis and Jessy turned into birds so they wouldn't get caught."

"They will meet up with us later," Saracen clarified.

Valkyrie nodded and look back to the grid. They had been trying to get it open for a couple of minutes but it wouldn't budge.

"Tanith, if you don't mind," Skulduggery said, gesturing to the grid.

Valkyrie watched Tanith step forward and kneel by the grid. She cupped her hand around the keyhole. Gordon, being the odd fellow he is, had decided he would have a key for every grid, which is why they were numbered. Valkyrie watched as Tanith used her hands to open the grid.

There was no sound to signal that the grid had been unlocked. Tanith stepped back and Dexter pulled the grid up and it lifted off. There was a slightly horrible smell that was released when the grid came off.

"Who's going first?" Sanguine asked.

"I don't know but we need to decide soon. Looks who's coming our way." Tanith blurted. She was looking around the corner at someone.

Valkyrie walked up beside her and looked where Tanith was looking. Sagacious Tome, the geography teacher, was heading towards the library or, more specifically, them. Valkyrie turned back towards the grid. If Sagacious was heading for them then someone must have tipped him off.

"Don't forget to hold your nose," Dexter reminded everyone as he headed down into the sewer.

Now they knew a teacher was onto them everyone quickly took their turn and made their way into the sewer. Valkyrie went after Tanith. The ladder down was slightly slippery and the smell was a lot worse when she got to the bottom. The sewer was dark, wet and cold.

The only light was coming from Ghastly, who had created a fireball in his hand. Valkyrie did the same and the sewers were lit up a bit more.

Whatever Valkyrie was stood on was soft, squidgy and slippery so when she went to walk over to Tanith luck wasn't on her side. Her foot slipped and she fell onto her back. She groaned slightly in pain. The squidgy stuff had slightly cushioned her fall but it still hurt. A hand came into her line of vision and she found Skulduggery at the end of the arm the hand was attached to.

"Be careful, the floor is slippery," Skulduggery warned, pulling Valkyrie up off the floor.

"No kidding," Valkyrie said sarcastically.

"Which way now?" Dexter asked, chuckling slightly at Valkyrie's misfortune of falling over.

Valkyries glared slightly at him slightly and he whistled and looked away. She clicked her fingers and brought another fireball to light up the sewer. She watched Skulduggery pull out the map of the sewer and came closer to give him some light. He looked at it for a few moments before he pointed in the direction they needed to go.

"We need to go down that tunnel and then go right," He explained.

Valkyrie nodded and took a deep, calming breath. They were so close now. All they had to do was follow the map and they would find Harmony. Then everything would be back to normal. Or would it?

Valkyrie looked around at the group of people walking with her. Harmony was kidnapped and after they got her back it can't just go back to normal. Mevolent and his friends can't just kidnap someone and get away with it.

"What you thinking about?"

Valkyrie looked to Merit. They were both walking at the back of the group.

"What happens once we get Harmony back?" Valkyrie asked.

Merit was quiet for a moment. "I don't know." She answered truthfully.

Valkyrie nodded and the both went back to walking in silence.

The first junction they came to they took a right, like Skulduggery had said they needed to do. They came to the second junction a couple minutes later.

"Which way?" Dexter asked.

Valkyrie watched Skulduggery look at the blueprints and that at the 2 different tunnels they could go down. One carried on going the way they had been heading while the other went to the left.

"Le-,"

"Don't go left," Saracen interrupted. Valkyrie frowned. Wasn't Skulduggery just about to say left? "I've got a feeling," Saracen explained. _Ah, that explains it,_ Valkyrie thought.

"We'll have to carry on forward then," Skulduggery muttered as he walked away from the left tunnel and down the straight one.

-SOM-SOM-SOM-

Valkyrie sighed. She hadn't realised how long it would take to get through the sewers. Even though they took the sewer grid closest to the room Harmony was being kept in it still felt like they had been down here for hours.

It didn't help that Saracen kept having feelings about which way not to go. They have definitely taken the long way.

The group had walked in silence majority of the time. Valkyrie wasn't sure if it was meant for stealth purposes or the tense atmosphere no one dared to break. Either way, Valkyrie found it awkward and the urge to start laughing was slowing building up.

"Is it just me, and please say if it is, or does it sound like there is more people walking down here than us?" Sanguine asked.

Everyone stopped walking and stood still. Valkyrie strained to hear and if she could just-. She heard it. There was a squelching noise. She moved her hand with the flame around her. No one was moving. Someone else was down here.

The movement from Skulduggery made her jump. He had rolled up the blueprints and handed them to Midnight. Midnight looked confused and passed them to Merit. Merit passed them to Dexter and then Valkyrie was given them. Valkyrie sighed. _Better keep it safe._

Valkyrie extinguished the flame in her hand and held the blueprints with both hands so she wouldn't drop them onto the wet, squelchy stuff they all stood on.

Skulduggery clicked his fingers bringing Valkyries, and everyone's, attention to him. He had created a flame and let it grow to a good size. Valkyrie watched him as he threw the fireball down the tunnel. Everyone waited tensely as they watched the light from the fireball get smaller the further it got away.

Then it hit something.

Whatever the fireball had hit was lit on fire. This reminded her a lot of-.

"Hollow men," Ghastly stated. Exactly what she had been thinking.

-SOM-SOM-SOM-

 _"_ _Sir!"_

 _Mevolent turned to the zombies Vaurien Scapegrace and Thrasher. He sneered at them. Disgusting things. He should have got rid of them ages ago but he wasn't able to due to them holding a position on the school staff team._

 _"_ _What?" He growled._

 _"_ _Hollow men group 7 has been lit on fire," Scapegrace explained._

 _Mevolent grinned a nasty, evil grin. "Keep the prisoner secure. It seems our group of hero's have found their own way down."_

 _Vaurien Scapegrace nodded and rushed off, Thrasher behind him._

 _"_ _What a shame, the traps were set for nothing."_

-SOM-SOM-SOM-

The Hollow men were only the start of their problems.

Valkyrie huffed as she dodged a punch.

After Skulduggery had lit the Hollow men on fire they had continued walking. Everything had been fine. They walked passed the ashes that were the Hollow men and they saw a light at the end of the tunnel, literally. Valkyrie was relived they had found the room. Then they had been ambushed.

Valkyrie sent a gust of air at the guy, knocking him backwards. His dark blonde hair was put up tightly in a bun and Valkyrie wished she had put hers up and out the way. He was really tanned and glared at her with dark blue eyes. She made these features out using the light from different attacks from the sewer tunnel.

The group had been split up and now the only people who she could see were Skulduggery, Sanguine, Dexter and Tanith. They were all fighting of a person, or two in Skulduggery's case.

"You think a lot," the guy said, "Why don't you concentrate on our fight instead of focusing on your friends?" Valkyrie brought her attention back to the guy who she was fighting. How did he know she was thinking about her friends?

"You talk too much." Valkyrie threw a fireball at him but he dodged.

"You can't beat me. I know what you're going to do as you think of it." Valkyrie threw another fireball but he dodged again. How did he know what she was going to do? Unless, he could see the future. That's the only way he could know what would happen before it happened.

"Ding, ding. She has found the right answer." The guy smirked. Valkyrie glared. He was definitely a mind reader as well. "Wow, you are on a roll with these right answers."

She took a breath and cleared her head. Time to use her instincts and do whatever came naturally.

"Even if you're using instincts you still have to think. You can't win."

Valkyrie watched the guy. She clicked her fingers of her right hand and created a flame, watching the guy as he tried to figure out what she was going to do. _Just do what comes naturally, don't think, don't make any decisions._ She grinned at him, hoping it would freak him out.

She threw the fireball. He dodged. However, as he dodged she used her left hand and sent a gust of air knocking backwards into the wall. She watched as he slipped down the wall and slumped over. She walked over to him.

She crouched down in front of his slumped form and lifted his head by his chin. Knocked out co-.

His eyes shot open.

He leapt forwards, knocking Valkyrie off balance causing her to land on her back on the squelchy floor with him sitting on top of her. She clicked her fingers but swore when she realised they were wet from the floor of the sewers.

"Now, now," The guy said as he dodged a punch Valkyrie sent his way. He grabbed her arms and held them to her sides. "There's no need for this. Just accept that I've won because I'm better than you."

Valkyrie resorted to spitting in his face.

He let go of one of her arms to wipe the spit out of his eye. Valkyrie took this chance and punched him in the jaw, knocking him off her. He went to grab her again but she kicked him in the side, giving her enough time to stand up, and winding him in the process.

"Don't think you've won because you haven't."

Valkyrie looked down at him in confusion. What did he mean?

She realised what he meant when she was kicked in the back and sent flying sideways into the sewer wall. She groaned. _That hurt_. She gave herself a few seconds before trying to get up. They were quick seconds since they were in the middle of a fight.

She used the wall to help her up and winced when her body groaned at her for moving. This was going to bruise. Second time being thrown into a wall this year. Hopefully there won't be any more times. She leant most her wait against the wall, struggling to stand up for herself.

She looked to the person that kicked her and found a man, no scratch that, a humanoid creature wearing a black top hat. It had long sharp nails on both its hands and feet. Valkyrie was lucky they hadn't dug into when she was kicked.

"Get up!" The creature snarled at the guy. The guy glared back and stumbled to his feet, still winded. "We're going."

"We're retreating?" The guy asked. "Why are we retreating? We're kicking their arses."

"Obviously you were doin' so well when I interrupted." The creature said sarcastically. "Now let's go."

 **Sorry for not uploading in a while. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I will be uploading more soon. Don't worry, I won't give up. Please give me any of your ideas and I will try to put them into the story.**

 **I would like to thank the people who have reviewed. so here we go:**

 **Mnemonics : Thank you for the villain OC's. I hope you noticed I have used Ethan in this chapter. I will bring Eli in soon. I'm glad you enjoy the story.**

 **Madman2.60 : Thank you for the villain. I keep him out of the story for now as I have an idea with what I can do with him later on. I'm so happy you love my writing so much and you think I'm a good author. I hope you found this chapter good.**

 **Skykar : Thank you so much. I'm glad you think my story is amazing. I'm glad for all the OC's you have given me. I will be sure to use them in the next few chapters.**

 **Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review and tell me what you think.**

 **-M**


	13. So close

"Val, are you okay?" Valkyrie looked to Merit, who was stood by her side with a concerned look adorning her face. Merit had a cut above her right eyebrow and Val was sure there was more injuries but she couldn't see much in the sewer light, if there was any at all.

Valkyrie nodded and stood up straight. Merit looked as if she didn't believe her but didn't want to push. Valkyrie was grateful for that.

"Where did everyone go?" Valkyrie asked. She had watched the guy she had been fighting walk off with the humanoid creature but struggled to follow them. This left her to lean on the wall asking her body to stop aching. It didn't.

"The bad guys?" Valkyrie nodded at Merit. "They retreated. Not sure why since they were actually kicking our arses."

A small cough interrupted them and they both turned to see Skulduggery with a flame in his gloved hand.

"You might have been losing but I do believe I was beating my opponents." Skulduggery said.

Valkyrie chuckled quietly but stopped when it made her side groan more. She tried not to lean on the wall as much as she was so it wasn't obvious she was struggling to stand. She didn't understand why it had hurt so much to be kicked into the wall? It wasn't a powerful kick so why did it hurt so much? Then again, she had basically flew into the wall.

"The end of the tunnel is right down there. That's where the room should be." Skulduggery said. Everyone, Tanith, Ghastly, Anton, Dexter, Saracen, Sanguine and Midnight, gathered around the trio as Skulduggery spoke. "This will be dangerous. I'm not saying you're going to die but if that possibility arises would anyone like flowers at their fu-?"

"Skulduggery," Ghastly warned, "Now is not the time for jokes."

"Right," Skulduggery cleared his none existent throat and stood straighter. Valkyrie noticed he became more serious after that. "Harmony will most probably be injured so Valkyrie and Merit, I'm putting you in charge of getting her out of there. Once we have Harmony, Saracen, Midnight, Ghastly and Tanith will lead the way out. Everyone else, we will be protecting from behind.

There will most definitely be fighting and injuries. We actually don't know what we're walking into to, so Dead Men it's just like old times. Except our friend has been kidnapped, which has happened before, actually. Anyway, any questions? No? Okay then, let's go."

Valkyrie pushed herself off the wall. She could do this. She walked down the tunnel silently, like everyone else. The only sound was the squelching of their feet. She was getting rid of these shoes once they got Harmony back and were out the sewers.

They walked quickly and were soon at the entrance to the room. There was a normal size metal door that was ajar slightly. The door had a small window near the top that was made of glass. However, you couldn't see through it due to the grime which had built up over however many years it had been down here.

Sanguine surprisingly took the lead and pushed the door open gently. Nothing happened.

Everyone was in a defensive stance as they entered the room. The room was lit with bright fluorescent lights. There were pillars from the ceiling to the floor which had circular metal pipes coming from the sides of them to the floor. The ceiling had metal sheets along it and the floor was dirty with grime and the squelchy stuff from the tunnels.

Valkyrie blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted to the bright lights. The room they were in wasn't like what she had expected. The dirt and grime was one factor she had correct, just not the generators around the room.

"This is not what I expected." Tanith muttered beside her. Valkyrie nodded in agreement and looked around the room again. The room was bigger than what she expected as well.

"Everyone stick to the plan," Skulduggery ordered. "Our main priority is Harmony and getting her out of here."

Valkyrie nodded and moved further into the room. Everyone spaced out more and they began to search the room for Harmony. It was nerve racking. Other than the occasional drop if water, the hum of the generators and their footsteps there was no other sound.

BANG.

Valkyrie jumped and swung around, hands raised with a fireball in each. The door had slammed shut.

"They know were here." Sanguine said.

Valkyrie gulped. Now she was really nervous.

"Of course we know you're here."

Valkyrie looked around for the source of the voice. She tried her best to keep her footsteps as silent as possible as she crept around a pillar. The guy she had been fighting before was stood, half hidden behind a generator.

Valkyrie extinguished her fireballs and instead sent a gust of air at him. The air knocked him into another generator. Valkyrie quickly hid behind the pillar. She could hear him standing up while cursing to himself.

The lights went out.

Valkyrie froze. She held her breath not wanting to make a sound. She couldn't see. She looked around frantically hoping to see a small glimpse of a light but nothing. Now the lights had gone out she couldn't see anyone or anything.

She pressed herself into the pillar she was hiding behind, knowing nothing could creep up from behind her. She crouched down and tried to make out any sounds. One sound in particular caught her attention. The muttering of voices.

She strained her ears but they were too far away to hear properly. It could have been one of her group or one of Mevolent's.

Valkyrie jumped when a hand clasped down on her shoulder. She swung her arm to punch the person but she missed.

"Val, calm down. It's just me." Val sighed. It was just Merit.

"How can you see?" Valkyrie whispered, looking at where she thought Merit was.

"I'm not exactly all human right now."

"What?"

"Let's just say I've become half cat for the time being." Merit said mysteriously.

Valkyrie just nodded. It probably wasn't the weirdest thing she has been told before now. She stayed silent and continued listening for anything. The muttering of voices had stopped and everything had became silent. Even the generators had stopped humming.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are." A voice said loudly.

Valkyrie frowned. This wasn't going to be easy when she couldn't see. Maybe a distraction would work.

"What are you planning?" Merit asked.

"Distraction." Valkyrie muttered quickly. She stood up and clicked her fingers. Sparks sprang from her fingers and they grew into a fire ball.

"Just giving yourself away? That doesn't seem like you."

Valkyrie closed her eyes. Whoever it was wouldn't come into the light. They continued to hide in the shadows.

"You don't know me." Valkyrie replied. Then smirked.

"You'd be surpris-." The voice cut off. The growl of a big cat cut through the air. Merit had taken them down.

Valkyrie smiled at Merit when she padded over in her leopard form. It was kind of freaky seeing a big cat but she knew there was nothing to worry about because it was Merit.

"That was fun." Valkyrie whispered sarcastically. Merit chuckled and Valkyrie found it odd hearing a chuckle come from a big cat.

Valkyrie extinguished the flames and they were surrounded by darkness again.

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review if you have any ideas. Thanks.**

 **-M**


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